Franco-Mexican doctor Nadine Gasman has been proposed by the government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador as a candidate to head the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) for the period 2023-2028, a designation that the Madrid-based organization Prisoner Defenders (PD) in Considers scandalous
The applicant is the wife of Joaquín Molina, representative of the Cuban side at PAHO and one of those responsible for the Mais Médicos program, for which the organization is being sued before a US court as an intermediary channeling payments between Brazil and Cuba. Plaintiffs allege that the World Health Organization’s regional affiliate facilitates the “human trafficking network” and “slavery” that have obscured the Mais Médicos program in Brazil.
PD confirms that last summer’s appointment was sponsored by Raúl Castro to prevent the lawsuit filed in 2018 by four Cuban doctors who were part of the mission to Brazil
PD confirms that last summer’s appointment was sponsored by Raúl Castro to prevent the lawsuit filed in 2018 by four Cuban doctors who were part of the mission to Brazil. According to the organization, former Cuban President López Obrador has hired to look for anyone who could obstruct US justice investigations.In addition, PD calls for “PAHO structures to be shaken up for the benefit of public health and human rights in Latin and be cleansed America and the world”.
Nadine Gasman was named a candidate by Mexico last February. For this she left her position as President of the National Institute for Women. The official has a PhD in public health from Johns Hopkins University, a master’s degree in public health from Harvard University, and is a medical surgeon from La Salle University and the National Autonomous University of Mexico.
To date, five people are competing with her for the position, although it is possible to apply for more people until May 1st. Their opponents for the time being are the Brazilian Jarbas Barbosa da Silva, the Colombian Fernando Ruiz Gómez, the Panamanian Camilo Antonio Alleyne Marshall, the Uruguayan Daniel Salinas and the Haitian Florence Duperval Guillaume. Voting will take place at the 30th PAHO Pan American Sanitation Conference between September 26-30, 2022.
Gasman has a conflict of interest to win this vote due to her marriage to Joaquín Molina, according to the PD. The officer is one of the defendants in the Florida lawsuit, which he has appealed. According to the NGO, Mais Médicos has three main managers, on the one hand Heidi V. Jiménez, PAHO legal adviser and employee of the health ministries of Cuba and Brazil in 2013, when Castro and Rousseff signed the agreement. On the other hand Carissa Etienne as current director of PAHO; and finally Molina, then representative of the Cuban regime.
Last week, a US court rejected PAHO’s appeal to drop the lawsuit brought by Ramona Matos, Tatiana Carballo, Fidel Cruz and Russela Rivero, the four Cuban health workers who denounced the working conditions they faced as members of the program.
PAHO raised more than $75 million through the Mais Médicos program, and approximately $1.3 billion was paid into the coffers of the Cuban state through bank accounts in the United States
The United Nations Health Organization attempted to stop the lawsuit, taking advantage of the immunity afforded by US law, but the courts eventually found that the organization’s financial operations as an intermediary in the country could be investigated since bank accounts in the US were used for wire transfers were the amounts. The court believes that the money movements were necessary for the alleged human trafficking and could be the reason for the opening of the court case, for which the lawsuit is pending.
PAHO raised more than $75 million through the Mais Médicos program and about $1.3 billion was paid into the coffers of the Cuban state through bank accounts in the United States, according to lawsuit documentation. 85% of the salaries provided went to the Cuban government, 10% to the doctors and 5% were withheld by the PAHO through its mediation.
“There is an international organization (PAHO) affiliated with the United Nations that became the main force allowing Cuba to export its citizens to a foreign country for forced labor,” claims the doctors’ lawyer.
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