Sheinbaum denies pay gap as Salazar seeks end to hiring Cuban doctors
The U.S. congresswoman wants Washington to pressure Mexico during a trade-agreement review; Mexico's president said the professionals are hired directly.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum denied that Cuban doctors hired in the country receive different pay from Mexican colleagues, while U.S. Representative María Elvira Salazar asked Washington to pressure Mexico to end those contracts. The dispute pits the official defense of pay conditions against Salazar's objections to the program involving Cuban professionals.
Sheinbaum said Cuban doctors are hired directly and categorically rejected the existence of a wage gap between them and Mexican doctors. Her answer addressed both hiring and compensation. Salazar, meanwhile, raised objections about labor conditions and sought U.S. intervention. These are distinct arguments within the debate over the program.
Salazar sent her request in a letter to U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, asking Washington to use the review of its trade agreement with Mexico as leverage. She called for that process to lead to an end to the Cuban-doctor hiring program. The proposal connects a labor dispute with trade talks between the two countries and extends beyond wages.
The Republican lawmaker based her demand on allegations of forced labor involving Cuban doctors. She also sought action to dismantle the program, which according to the figure cited in her request includes more than 3,000 professionals. The forced-labor claim belongs to Salazar and does not, by itself, establish the conditions of every doctor working in Mexico.
The exchange leaves two issues in contention: Sheinbaum says there is no pay gap and that hiring is direct, while Salazar alleges labor problems and seeks to move her complaint into the trade arena. The congresswoman wants U.S. pressure during the agreement's review; the Mexican president defends the compensation and hiring arrangement she described.