WHO Affiliate Trafficking Doctors to Brazil, Class Action Says

A recent class action lawsuit accuses a World Health Organization affiliated group of conspiring with the Cuban government to run a human trafficking scheme.

The Cuban physicians who filed the class action lawsuit argue that Pan American Health Organization has collected more than $75 million since 2013 by facilitating the illegal human trafficking of Cuban doctors to Brazil.

Pan American Health Organization is a specialized health agency affiliated with the World Health Organization, the Organization of American States, and the United Nations, with its headquarters in Washington, D.C.

The doctors and health professionals who were victims of the organization’s alleged human trafficking scheme were reportedly paid 10 percent or less of the fees the Brazilian government paid the Pan American Health Organization.

The organization allegedly paid at least 85 percent to the Cuban government and kept five percent for themselves, leaving only 10 percent for the doctors.

According to the human trafficking class action, Cuba generates more than $8 billion every year from this scheme.

The government allegedly “exports” doctors and health care professionals to other countries and uses them to generate profits. The physicians also claim that the government generates their profits through “forced labor and human trafficking.”

The human trafficking class action claims that “Cuba ‘recruits’ participants under threat of harsh social, economic, political, personal reputational, and legal repercussions; separates the workers from their families; refuses to inform them where they will be sent and what work they will perform; restricts their freedom of movement; pays the workers a fraction of the total sums paid by the host country for their work; and in many cases withholds a portion of their wages until their return to Cuba.”

While working in Brazil against their will, the physicians are allegedly monitored by Cuban intelligence agents who are employees of the Pan American Health Organization.

Between this surveillance and the lack of freedom allegedly caused by threats to themselves and their families, the physicians have no choice but to participate in the program and become victims of human trafficking.

According to the class action lawsuit, the Pan American Health Organization knows that the human trafficking scheme is in violation of international law, but continues to assist in the scheme to generate a profit.

The physicians bring their class action claims under the U.S. Human Trafficking Victims Protection Act and the Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organization (RICO).

Plaintiffs seek to represent a Class of Cuban doctors and other health care professionals who worked in Brazil in the Mais Medicos program between 2013 and 2018, and who resided in the United States at any time after October 2018.

The class action lawsuit estimates that the Class includes around 3,500 individuals, 1,500 of which live in Southern Florida.

The plaintiffs seek compensatory damages, court costs, and attorneys’ fees.

The physicians are represented by Samuel J. Dubbin of Dubbin & Kravetz LLP; and Jonathan Cuneo and Peter Gil-Montllor of Cuneo Gilbert & LaDuca LLP.

The Cuban PAHO Human Trafficking Class Action Lawsuit is Rodriguez, et al. v. Pan American Health Organization, Case No. 1:18-cv-24995-DPG, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.