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The Multi-Million Dollar Scam of ‘Cuban Doctors’ in Mexico

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Being a Cuban doctor meant that you would be forced to be a slave of the Cuban regime. Sadly, they now appear to be victims of fraud as well. In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, which triggered the worst public health crisis in Mexico’s modern history, the government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) and his allies in Mexico City diverted 255 million pesos to the Cuban dictatorship, under the pretext of paying for the service of 585 “doctors” whose titles simply do not appear.

This is the latest scandal uncovered this week by Senator Julen Rementería (PAN-Veracruz). On September 20, Rementería exposed, backed up by official documents, the deception of the hundreds of Cuban “doctors” who traveled to Mexico without any proof or record that they were even doctors.

The dance of the millions

The multi-million dollar bungling began on April 21, 2020, with a transfer of 135.8 million pesos that the federal government sent to the Mexico City government as part of a “collaboration agreement” to confront the pandemic.

Neither slow nor lazy, the Mexico City Government, controlled by Claudia Sheinbaum (a very close ally and very possible successor of López Obrador) signed a couple of “biannual agreements” with the Cuban dictatorship. In total, it paid $255.8 million pesos ($12.7 million dollars) in exchange for the services of 585 “doctors,” who worked for just 3 months. This is equivalent to $437,390.05 pesos ($21,700 dollars) per “doctor,” a figure almost 10 times higher than what the Mexican government pays a national doctor during the same period.

However, this money was not paid to the Cuban “doctors.” On the contrary, the Mexican Government transferred it directly (and in Euros, of course) to the Ministry of Health of the dictatorship, which in return sent to Mexico a horde of phonies who were not even disguised with a medical degree.

Claudia Sheinbaum (der.) Jefa de Gobierno de la CDMX, usó millones de pesos para pagarle a la dictadura de La Habana por médicos cubanos, pero sin título que los avale.
Claudia Sheinbaum (right), head of government of the CDMX, used millions of pesos to pay the dictatorship in Havana for Cuban doctors, but without a title to endorse them. (EFE)

Cuban doctors, who were not doctors

In the agreements signed by the Mexican authorities and the tyrants of Havana, the dictatorship promised to send medical personnel with the accreditations that would allow them to practice as such, and the Health Secretariat of Mexico City promised to process the permits for them to practice as health professionals. They did not do so.

Rementería and his team consulted directly with the Mexican Social Security Institute, the ISSSTE, the federal government’s Health Secretariat, the National Migration Institute, the National Medical Arbitration Commission and the Mexico City Government itself, institutions that should have the documentary support of the professional titles of each of the Cuban doctors in whose hands the lives of thousands of Mexicans were placed.

The response? With different nuances, they all answered that they do not have the documentation that accredits such personnel. In other words, neither those who paid for the “doctors“, nor those who let them into the country, nor those who opened the doors of the hospitals for them, have the slightest idea of the professional qualifications of the slaves disguised in white coats who were rented to Díaz-Canel.

“How many Mexicans will have died at the hands of these fake doctors?”

That is the ultimate question, posed by Senator Rementería, and it cuts to the core of Mexico, the fourth country with the most officially recognized deaths due to Covid-19 worldwide. “How many Mexican families lost a loved one due to the medical negligence of these fake doctors? How many lives did this fraud of the Cuban dictatorship cost Mexican families?”

How many of those 270,000 deaths (and counting) could have been avoided with a well qualified doctor, instead of a parapet at the orders of Havana? Just one would be too many, and in view of the seriousness of the scandal, it is essential to know, as the PAN member demands, at least which patients were under the care of the fake doctors and what treatment they received, as a first step to detect cases of medical negligence.

The families should be compensated and the guilty parties should rot in jail. Any other response will be unacceptable.

Gerardo Garibay Camarena, is a doctor of law, writer and political analyst with experience in the public and private sectors. His new book is "How to Play Chess Without Craps: A Guide to Reading Politics and Understanding Politicians" // Gerardo Garibay Camarena es doctor en derecho, escritor y analista político con experiencia en el sector público y privado. Su nuevo libro es “Cómo jugar al ajedrez Sin dados: Una guía para leer la política y entender a los políticos”

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