By Zoila Palma: Recently, the Government of Belize informed that Belize and Cuba will not renew the agreement under which members of the Cuban Medical Brigade have served in Belize since 1990.
Through a new arrangement, the Government of Belize, through the Ministry of Health and Wellness, will sign individual contracts of employment with each Cuban professional that will allow them to remain and work in Belize.
US Ambassador Andre Bauer says that the U.S. welcomed this decision by Belize.
“Well, the US, a big thing for them is human trafficking. They want people to have control of their own identity and their own domain, and so, if another country is sending people out but keeping most of the money for the country and not actually compensating the people for doing their work and they have their passports, that’s important to our country and we want to make sure that people are treated fairly and right. So, that’s why they took this, the President and the Secretary of State. This was a big issue for them, to make sure that human trafficking, on any level, is unacceptable. So, we’re very pleased that Belize has worked with us on this, trying to resolve this issue, trying to give these people that are providing a service that we desperately need, that they are free in doing so,” Ambassador Bauer said.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Francis Fonseca says that 22 Cuban medical professionals have signed contracts and more are signing in what he described as a win-win situation for Belize as the country retains the medical professionals.
The post U.S. cites human trafficking concerns as Belize ends decades-old Cuban medical brigade agreement appeared first on Belize News and Opinion on www.breakingbelizenews.com.
By Zoila Palma: Recently, the Government of Belize informed that Belize and Cuba will not renew the agreement under which members of the Cuban Medical Brigade have served in Belize since 1990. Through a new arrangement, the Government of Belize, through the Ministry of Health and Wellness, will sign individual contracts of employment with each
The post U.S. cites human trafficking concerns as Belize ends decades-old Cuban medical brigade agreement appeared first on Belize News and Opinion on www.breakingbelizenews.com.
