Bolivia

Executive summary

Cuba's medical cooperation with Bolivia began in 2005 under the Operación Milagro and Programa Integral de Salud frameworks, formalized through the Cuba-Bolivia Cooperation Agreement, and ended in November 2019 following Evo Morales's resignation amid disputed elections, after accumulating 8,271 collaborators. Official figures show manipulation: personnel were reportedly forced to fabricate patient names and destroy medications to falsify statistics, with 88% of testimonies confirming record falsification. Documented labor violations include passport confiscation, 80-hour workweeks, residential confinement, and retained wages, with médicos receiving only 20% of the $1,300 Bolivia paid per worker monthly. Political obligations were also confirmed. Behind humanitarian branding, systematic exploitation persisted for over a decade. The numbers Havana published were never the whole truth.

Mission data

Research profile