Ask Lemmygrad

There is thing called 'income tax' that the Cuban state uses to provide free education, healthcare, and housing. The capitalists call it 'extortion' because there is no private industry to make huge profits out of these Doctors.

The Cuban state takes a portion of the salary the Cuban doctors earn during their foreign missions, yes.

It's called a TAX, not extortion.

No. They don't. These are lies from the Miami gusanos and have been debunked even at Narco Rubio's face by the Jamaican Prime minister, Andrew Holness.

For more than six decades, Cuba, a country with limited resources and under a cruel sanctions regime from the most powerful nation on the planet, has demonstrated that true solidarity translates into action. That is why more than 605,000 Cuban health professionals have voluntarily participated in missions in 165 countries, attending to more than 2.3 billion patients, performing around 17 million surgeries, assisting more than 5 million births, and saving more than 12 million lives.

Our medical cooperation is neither a business nor an instrument of exploitation. It is solidarity that saves lives and responds to the requests of sovereign governments whose people benefit from it. Participation in these missions is voluntary, regulated by bilateral agreements, and respectful of international law and the rights of Cuban professionals, who return to their countries with social and professional recognition. The accusations of “forced labor” are unfounded and part of a political narrative.

It seems that you have way more questions so I recommend the website "cubainformacion.tv" because they are usually the ones that debunk every single lie from the gusanos that are spread through Latin America and Spain.

Sources

-> https://www.cubainformacion.tv/solidaridad/20250328/114856/114856-los-medicos-cubanos-y-las-mentiras-de-marco-rubio.

-> https://www.cubainformacion.tv/solidaridad/20260311/121354/121354-medicos-y-no-bombas-la-verdad-sobre-la-cooperacion-medica-cubana

there is literally a memo from the 1950s from the office of the secretary of state where they're like "castro is super popular, that probably isn't going to change, we're going to embargo them so that people literally starve to death until they overthrow the government"

which sounds more like extortion to you

https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1958-60v06/d499

That's not what extortion is. Extortion is when you threaten someone so that they do something to benefit you. Cuba is not threatening it's doctors, and it's not trying to get the doctors to do something that benefits Cuba, other than just be doctors who get paid to be doctors.

As for the cab driver story, yeah, the country is being starved of everything. If you want money, you get it from the rich American tourists. That's how every poor country has always worked with white tourists. Poor in China? Do work for the American tourists, they have no idea how much anything costs locally.

That's just Cuba being poor because the US is extorting them. The US is saying we are going to keep starving your children, your sick, and your elderly unless you do what I say.

Well here's a definition I can find on extortion:

to obtain from a person by force, intimidation, or undue or illegal power

the act or practice of extorting especially money or other property

I'm not sure I can even envision how exactly Cuba would go about taking money from its overseas doctors through threats. (Which is the only related scenario I can think of that would fit the definition.) Cuba is not exactly an empire who can make shit happen at will with military force outside its borders. It's under siege by the empire as we speak.

Like what would they do? End the program and make the doctors come home if they aren't doing what they want or something? How are they going to enforce that?

It sounds a lot like an example of psychological projection. The empire acts in extorting, forceful ways across borders. So people who pick up on this might project this trait onto other countries that they think are being led by "bad leaders".

The possibility that people could be loyal to the revolution and want to work towards its success because it has supported them and works toward humane goals is completely off the table for that kind of worldview. Every sign of struggle means someone is a victim of communism and every sign of success must be propaganda.

"nonfalsifiable orthodoxy" as Parenti put it:

my step dad then mentioned that when they are sent overseas they must return home, they cannot just leave Cuba at all (perhaps for vacation but other than that they apparently have to remain in Cuba forever)

I don’t really know. It may have been at least somewhat true until 2013. But what is Cuba going to do, extraordinary rendition? The question nowadays may be, what countries will allow them permanent residency or citizenship?

I’ve heard that there’s been bullshit propaganda about Cuban doctors, but I’ve never looked into the facts, so that’s all I can say.