14ymedio, Madrid, 13 February 2024 — That the Cuban Government keeps between 70% and 95% of what a foreign country pays for each health worker is not new, nor is it new that the regime alleges that part goes to cover the expenses of, among other things, Public Health. The novelty is in comparing it with the taxes that are paid in many European countries through a simplification that could be described as ignorance, if it were not for the fact that it is published by a media that knows what it is talking about.
The international pro-Castro channel Cubainformación, located in Spain, has released a video on Tuesday to talk about the “war against Cuban medical cooperation,” whose epicenter, it says, is in Mexico. The report explains that Cuban international missions are divided into several types: those that are entirely covered by Cuba, in the poorest countries, those that have the contribution of the two parties and, finally, those that are sent to countries with more resources, for which the Island receives a payment.
This amount includes, details the report, stipends and allowances for cooperating personnel, expenses (flights, lodging and maintenance), salaries and, finally, an amount that goes to the Public Health System. Cubainformation tries to ridicule “the media and contracting organizations” whom it considers allies of the United States in its “war” by mocking the different percentages that the Government retains. “The ’Cuban regime’ practices ’modern slavery’ or ’forced labor’ of its medical personnel because it ’retains’ more than 70% – or 75%, 80% or 95%, because there are different figures according to the imagination of the source – of the payment,” it jokes.
“Even accepting the figure of 70%, discounting the expenses assumed by the Cuban State, we would not be at a tax pressure much higher than that of Belgium, for example”
Then, however, it recognizes that “the data is difficult to verify,” but admits that it may be the least amount withheld compared to other countries. “Even accepting the figure of 70%, discounting the expenses assumed by the Cuban State, we would not be at a tax pressure much higher than that of Belgium, for example,” it concludes.
The surprising analogy comes from the opening of the video, which states that “in a country like Belgium, of the gross salary of a worker, 53% is withheld by the State” as
