In early September, 17 people were arrested in connection with the activities of a network that was recruiting Cubans for the war in Ukraine.
Over the investigation of this matter, writes Euronews, Russia and Cuba work together. The first official comment was made by the Russian Ambassador to Cuba, Viktor Coronelli:
“The competent authorities are working, they are in contact with both the Russian and Cuban sides. I can’t give you any other comments for now.”
The first reports of the investigation appeared several months ago. In early September, Havana announced the arrest of three people involved in the recruitment and 14 Cubans who, in exchange for a Russian passport, decided to become mercenaries. According to Cuban media, young Cubans were invited to the Russian capital to work on construction sites, and in the end they ended up in the ranks of the Russian armed forces. The Cuban Foreign Ministry said in a statement, quoting the BBC:
“The Ministry of the Interior has identified and is working to neutralize and dismantle a human trafficking network operating from Russia with the goal of recruiting Cuban citizens living there and even some living in Cuba into the ranks of the armed forces that are participating in military operations in Ukraine. Attempts of this kind were neutralized, and criminal cases were initiated against those involved in these activities.”
The Cuban ambassador in Moscow said that Havana has nothing against it if legal contracts for military service are concluded. However, later the head of the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that the country’s laws do not allow citizens to participate in any conflicts on the side of third countries, and Cubans face severe punishment for mercenarism:
“Cuba has a strong and clear historical position against mercenarism and plays an active role at the UN in condemning this practice. Cuba is not involved in the war in Ukraine. It has and will act decisively against those who take part in any form of human trafficking for the purpose of recruiting mercenaries so that Cuban citizens can use weapons against any country.”
At the end of May, the Russian newspaper Ryazan Vedomosti reported how several Cuban citizens living in Ryazan signed contracts with the Russian Ministry of Defense and went to fight in Ukraine.
“Today, from the selection point for military service under contract, several citizens of the Republic of Cuba went to serve in the Russian army. According to them, the Cubans want to help our country carry out tasks in the zone of a special military operation, and some of them would like to become citizens of Russia in the future.”
The Cuban government’s statement came after the stories of young Cubans Andorf Velazquez Garcia and Alex Vegas Diaz received wide publicity in local media, BBC reports. In an interview with Cuban YouTube blogger ALAIN PAPARAZZI CUBANO, the young people said that they were deceived into coming to Russia to participate in the conflict. In the video, they talk about how the people who took them from Cuba to Russia promised them jobs in construction, but instead, upon arrival in Russia, they were taken to recruiting stations.
“They made us sign documents, promised us a salary and food in exchange for work, but the truth is that they took us to work in a war zone,” Velasquez told América TeVe, a Spanish-language television station broadcasting from Cuba’s neighboring Miami. “We are in a city we don’t know, in a situation we didn’t want to be in,” he added.
Relatives of Valazquez and Vegas told the media that two women, one of whom was a Russian citizen, convinced the young men to sign a contract not written in Spanish and then forced them to travel. Young Cubans mentioned the name Diana, talking about how they signed a certain contract and ended up in Russia. Presumably we are talking about a Russian woman who organized a trip for young people to Cuba.
How could it be that the authorities of both countries were not aware of the scheme, which involved signing official contracts for the provision of services, including life insurance, in Russian? How could they not have known about a group of Cubans flying on their passports from the island to Russia, the Air Force asks. There are many questions, but will the investigation answer them?
After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Cuba became one of Moscow’s few active supporters in Latin America, which the Kremlin clearly appreciated. Along with it, Russia is supported by Venezuela, Nicaragua and Bolivia. During a recent visit of a high-level Cuban delegation to Moscow, state media quoted Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu as saying: “Without a doubt, Cuba has been and remains Russia’s most important ally in the region.”
Although the Cuban government and official media mainly use Moscow’s rhetoric regarding the Russian invasion, Havana’s representatives at the UN have repeatedly chosen to abstain rather than support the Kremlin’s position. Many people remember that in the past, Cuba has repeatedly sent cargo and fighters clandestinely to conflict zones, for example, to Ethiopia in the 1970s and to Angola in the 70s and 80s.
Let us recall that in November 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on the admission of foreigners to contract service, and from May 2023 they can obtain Russian citizenship under a simplified procedure.
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