Bahamas kicking out Cuban teachers and medics
Nassau, The Bahamas.
Wikimedia Commons/Quintin Soloviev
Not wanting to aggravate its American neighbor, the Bahamian government has terminated the contracts of 31 Cuban specialist teachers, allowing them a brief period to wrap up affairs before leaving the country, official announcements stated.
The group of mostly vocational teachers. like welding and agricultural science, will not be part of the new academic year that began in the archipelago earlier this month.
They are being expelled just as their counterparts in medicine have faced pressure from the Trump administration to reduce Cuban influence in the country and because Washington regards the Cuban medical brigade system as a form of forced labor and human trafficking. This is so because a large part of the monthly payments of medics was paid to the Cuban government, with a small portion set aside as stipends for the workers.
Announcing the latest developments, the education ministry stated that “our priority remains the recruitment and hiring of qualified Bahamian educators.” Automatic renewal of contracts “was never guaranteed,” the ministry noted.
It is not clear whether any of the teachers will be allowed to remain as direct hires, meaning whether they will have their individual contracts and will receive their full pay rather than have emoluments routed through the Cuban government.
The teachers union (BUT) has complained that the termination of the contracts will leave a void in the system and should be reconsidered. Officials also say that The Bahamas will also seek to recruit foreign teachers from countries that would not attract the attention of the US, The Bahamas’ main source of tourist arrivals.