Profiting From Oppression: EU Turns a Blind Eye to Cuban Slave Labor

“Whoever knew slavery never wants to be a slave again,” said Fidel Castro in February 1993. However, by the hand of the socialist regime established by the Cuban revolution in 1959, slavery has returned to Cuba. 

The first comprehensive report on forced labor in Cuban prisons, presented by the organization Prisoners Defenders, is a devastating testimony of what is happening on the island. The exhaustive document exposes how 60,000 of the more than 127,000 Cubans imprisoned or detained under an open regime are subjected to forced labor in the service of the state. In principle, this is a punitive measure, but in reality, it serves the purpose of generating great economic benefits for the regime. These modern-day slaves work under inhumane conditions in the production of marabú charcoal, the growing of tobacco, or the cutting of sugar cane, and the fruits of their labor are exported to countries such as Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece, and Turkey, among others.

The report was presented in detail last Monday during an online press conference hosted by Cuban journalist Camila Costa and Javier Larrondo of Prisoners Defenders. Former MEPs Javier Nart and Leopoldo López attended the event, describing the Cuban system as “feudalism.” Also present were MEP Antonio López Istúriz (European People’s Party) and Blas Jesús Imbroda, dean of the Melilla Bar Association. Larrondo explained the figures outlined in the report and characterized the Cuban regime as a “criminal government for what it is doing to its people,” adding that “the only way to end this slavery is to stop importing goods produced through slave labor.”

The analysis of the 53 valid testimonies collected is uncontestable: all prisoners were forced to work under coercion, threats, violence, or reprisals; almost 70% did not sign a labor contract; 98% worked without tools, education, training, or necessary work tools; 96% were subjected to serious risks due to environmental conditions (sun, heat, cold, pests, etc.); 45% suffered physical violence during work (half of the women suffered harassment and sexual violence); and 81% reported serious physical and psychological deterioration: mutilations, post-traumatic stress, or serious injuries.

The report also reveals that prisoners were forced to work despite suffering from illnesses that made them unfit for physically demanding labor, including coal mining, sugarcane cutting, agricultural work, and the construction of private mansions for the regime’s generals and high-ranking officials. Over 98% did not receive medication for their illnesses, nor adequate treatment, nor medical follow-up. In fact, the vast majority have suffered and continue to suffer from health consequences caused by forced labor.

These new slaves endure extremely inadequate working conditions, and the wages they are allegedly assigned—if assigned at all—are often unpaid to the majority or withheld under the justification of covering expenses such as tools, clothing, food, and water. The 17% who were paid received less than $4 per month—a pittance for a workload of over 63 hours per week spread over 6 to 7 days per week with an average of 10 hours of work per day. 

To this must be added the very poor living conditions of the prisoners. Those who work with charcoal, for example, live in shacks with no ventilation, no mattresses, and no refrigerators for food. The vast majority of the charcoal workers have a long sentence, so they accept these conditions in order to avoid being returned to prison. 

Using forced labor in this manner, with minimal expenditure, brings huge profits to the regime. In 2023, Cuba exported charcoal (the country’s sixth most exported product) worth $61.8 million, making Cuba the ninth largest charcoal exporter in the world. The destinations include Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece, and Turkey.

For each 15-kilogram sack a consumer buys in Spain, Spanish traders receive $21.60, the Cuban government $7.86, and the forced laborer an amount so small, it doesn’t even reach one-tenth of a cent.

The Havana cigar—the most prominent symbol of Cuba—is also stained by slavery. The Tabacuba Group, one of the most powerful companies in the country, employs a mixed workforce made up of specialized personnel and prison inmates. The workers are poorly fed and work ten-hour days for measly pay—when they do get paid. For easy access to this cheap labor, Tabacuba has installed its factories inside the prisons. 

In the Quivicán prison, for example, two civilian tobacco professionals work, teaching 40 prisoners the work and keeping the factory’s accounts. The difference between the conditions of these two experts and the prisoners could not be greater: The experts work a Monday-through-Friday, 40-hour week for a salary of about 40,000 Cuban pesos a month ($97) and can take home two cigars a day. The prisoners, on the other hand, enter the factory at 6:30 in the morning and are returned at 21:00 or 22:00 every day of the week—except Sunday, when they work until lunchtime. Their monthly salary, if their families receive it, is 3,000 Cuban pesos ($7.32) in exchange for making between 50 and 130 cigars a day.

The export of goods produced through slave labor can—and should—be banned immediately by the European Union. This report aims to support that goal. For example, the production of marabú charcoal directly violates Article 5.2 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights, Article 4 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), and ILO Conventions 29 and 105. Once the existence of forced labor has been confirmed, as the report points out, the import and sale of marabú charcoal in the EU should be prohibited under the EU Forced Labour Regulation (EUFLR) rules. In this context, Javier Nart called for a “necessary campaign of awareness and denunciation” targeting Spanish companies that violate both national and EU laws.

Blas Jesús Imbroda pointed out that “Cuba subjects and represses its own people, but not only its own. It also contributes to what is happening in other countries, turning them into tyrannies, as in the case of Nicaragua or Venezuela, by exporting its model of social control and repression.” This is why democracies in the European Union cannot remain passive, he said. 

MEP Antonio López Istúriz said that polarization in the European Parliament and left-wing sympathies with Cuba make it very difficult to make decisions against the Castro regime: 

The reality is that an ideological sector of the Parliament systematically refuses to recognize these facts, and it has been very difficult to get Cuba discussed in the European Commission on Human Rights.

In response to my question if the report would change minds in the European Commission, MEP López-Istúriz answered bluntly,

No. Kaja Kallas, still influenced by the legacy she received, said earlier this year that Cuba was more or less an imperfect democracy. Kallas, as is logical because of her Baltic origin, is very concerned about the eastern flank and Ukraine, and her ignorance of Spanish-American problems is obvious.”

López-Istúriz added that he had spoken to Kallas and has seen “that she is very willing to listen” which gives him some hope. 

But in the meantime, I don’t think they are going to change much in the Commission. There is a double standard with a regime like the Castro regime that has been murdering and torturing the Cuban people for 80 years.  

The full report can be read here.