Yesterday, the slave trade in the West focused on unskilled labor, but today, Cuban socialism has revived slave practices for decades — albeit with professionals. It has done so through the “export of services.” Under the guise of “humanitarianism” or “solidarity,” it openly and systematically exploits its workers, “in collaboration with private companies, governments, and international organizations,” according to the NGO Archivo Cuba. In this hemisphere, forced labor is condemned as a practice similar to slavery.

It is not surprising to think that if Christianity, with the British abolitionist movement at the forefront, truncated the practice in much of the world, it is socialism that will bring it back. The Cuban author José Martí, as early as the 19th century, recognized this ideology as “the future slavery.”

Doctors, nurses, medical technicians, teachers, sports coaches, musicians, sailors, architects, geologists, tobacco workers, construction workers — Cuba has state-owned companies that exploit the services of all of them, mostly by sending them temporarily abroad on “internationalist missions,” according to Archivo Cuba.

“They are exported like merchandise for two or three years in unusual secret agreements with governments or companies. From 55% to 75% of exported services are in the health sector; Cuba and its allies dedicate a lot of propaganda to glorifying the practice and concealing its darker aspects. These provide the Cuban dictatorship with enormous income and symbolic capital (prestige, influence, goodwill) that translates into countless political benefits, including votes in international organizations,” the organization stated.

Emilio Arteaga was part of these “missions” in South America and Africa. His story offers a stark picture of the semi-slave-like conditions that thousands of Cubans still endure today. From his exile in Spain, where he arrived after a harrowing journey, he shares his testimony with us.

You were part of contingents in Bolivia, Angola, and Namibia. What did and does Cuban health care professionals do to enlist in these “missions”? What is life like for a doctor in Cuba, and what are its challenges?

What makes a doctor in Cuba enlist in a mission is, basically, economic necessity. The rest can be a mix of various motivations that vary from person to person, but to a lesser extent. In Cuba, the salary is so low that for a little more money (which represents a tiny percentage of what the governments of the countries you go to pay you), people enlist. The life of a doctor in Cuba is complicated and difficult. They are the first eyewitnesses to the suffering of a people. Literally. I say this considering that they must respond to the health needs of a population without medicines, without diagnostic tools, without basic supplies and resources to care for a patient, and from a health care system on the verge of collapse.

In a country with several chronic systemic polycrises — encompassing all aspects of daily life: health, social, and financial — doctors are yet another component of this social fabric, already severely damaged anthropologically, and without direct access to foreign currency. They receive their salaries in highly devalued Cuban pesos.

And in this scenario, they have no option for employment other than through a single employer: what I call the Castro-Feudal state.

The Cuban Medical Services Marketing Company (CSMC, S.A.) is the state-owned company designated to “market and manage” the export of medical, academic, and other services, both within Cuba and abroad. It negotiates contracts with foreign governments, organizations, and companies for the deployment of Cuban health care personnel and the provision of external medical services. What is the recruitment and enrollment process for doctors to participate in these missions? What was it like in your case?

The process to enroll in the mission begins at your workplace.

There, you must have the approval of the “factors,” as your union and official political organizations like the Union of Young Communists or the Communist Party of Cuba, among others, are called under communism.

In addition, you must demonstrate professional competence and good overall work conduct to the workplace administration.

In my particular case, it was influenced by the fact that CSMC, S.A. had to provide psychiatrists to the Collaboration Department, and at that time, the vast majority of my colleagues were quite old and didn’t want to leave.

There was also motivation from people close to me — family, friends, and colleagues — and even some patients. They all told me, “It will be good for you to get a change of scenery because you’re going to burn out here,” given how bad the situation is on the island.

So I decided to enter the selection process. We still didn’t really know what lay ahead.

In the preparation before leaving Cuba for the country where you’ll be sent to serve, you have to go through several courses and training sessions. Some are related to the field of medicine in general, others to the culture, language, and characteristics of the place or region where you’ll end up.

At the same time, you have to pass the so-called “Party Courses.” These are taught at the Provincial Schools of the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC).

I wasn’t a communist militant, but to get my graduation certificate, I had to pass these courses. They were like a kind of summary of the subjects of Marxism and Fundamentals of Political Knowledge. I particularly enjoyed and made fun of that group of “professors.” They lived in a parallel reality, as if they were unaware of the real and pressing problems on the island.

Since 2019, international organizations have denounced the Cuban regime for committing human trafficking under conditions of slavery, especially through its “medical missions.” How did you personally experience these conditions?

Several conditions were common in Bolivia, Angola, and Namibia, the three countries where I worked.

One of them was the total absence of individual freedom, limitations on movement, and the requirement to submit to absolute control and constant monitoring by State Security agents or the political police, who are stationed in each country to “accompany” those participating in the missions. Furthermore, other doctors also lent themselves to monitoring their colleagues.

This constant monitoring I’m referring to also includes the control and digital espionage of all your communications and social media.

You couldn’t interact or maintain close relationships with anyone outside the mission. Nor with natives of the countries where you were, and much worse, with free Cubans already residing there. The regime’s representatives were terrified of the latter.