by Gelet Martínez Fragela
Several media outlets have finally begun to acknowledge what ADN reported last year about young Cubans being recruited and lured to work in Russia, but then forced to risk their lives on the battlefields in Ukraine. Sources from the Cuban community tell ADN that the number of Cubans recruited to fight for Moscow is close to 5,000, not 400, as reported by the international press.
The bait-and-switch scheme was first revealed by ADN on September 6, 2023 as a result of dogged investigation by the Assembly of the Cuban Resistance, an international human rights organization dedicated to combating totalitarianism in Cuba and in the Western Hemisphere.
The DNA story was revived two months ago when the Wall Street Journal’s José de Córdoba reported on February 16 that young Cubans “eager to escape [the] poverty on the communist island” were “joining Russia’s army.”
Daniela Herrera, a young Cuban mother whose son was one of the recruits sent to Ukraine, cried during an interview with Córdoba, telling him that “Cubans are cannon fodder and they will kill them all.”
In its February 16 report , the WSJ quotes Ruslan Spirin, Ukraine’s special representative for Latin America and the Caribbean, who told the Journal that the Ukrainian government officially believes there are 400 Cubans fighting in the Russian army. However, the newspaper adds that Maryan Zabloktskyi, a member of the Ukrainian parliament who has closely studied the matter, places the number between 1,500 and 3,000.
A recent BBC investigation published on May 4 also confirmed that young Cubans were being lured to fight for the Kremlin with the promise of high salaries and Russian passports as a means of escaping poverty. The BBC acknowledged that the scheme began in September and reported that young Cubans have been duped into monthly payments of $2,000, an amount significantly higher than the average monthly salary of Cuban communists, which is $35, but notes that the number of Cubans fighting for Moscow is a few “hundreds.”
Even so, Cuban exile leaders who have closely followed the situation on the ground, both in Cuba and in Europe, tell ADN that the figures reported by the WSJ and the BBC are underestimates.
Dr. Orlando Gutiérrez Boronat, president of the Cuban Resistance Assembly, who has spent several months working with officials in the Ukrainian parliament – and has even been briefed by the government cabinet – believes that the number of Cubans being forced into Russian conscription is even higher and that the recruitment is part of a joint operation between Moscow and Havana.
“These are young Cubans recruited in a joint covert operation of the Cuban army and the Russian regime,” Dr. Gutiérrez told ADN and insisted: “This is a joint operation of the Russians and the Castro regime, and our Ukrainian sources “The Cuban troops are estimated at 5,000.”
In its original story on September 6, 2023, ADN reported that Cuba’s Foreign Ministry was trying to cover up the regime’s coordination with the Kremlin, saying that young Cubans were facing a “hoax” as part of what could be a human trafficking network. That version was immediately denied by Gutiérrez Boronat, who told ADN at the time that the real “hoax” was the regime’s cover-up story, “because there is too much evidence; instead, they blame a criminal network. We will see who they sacrifice.” .
For his part, former Cuban political prisoner Luis Zúñiga also told ADN in September that “it is worth reminding the [Cuban] regime that they have indeed functioned as mercenaries. The Soviets paid them for each soldier sent to fight in Angola and Ethiopia. In addition, the ‘multinational’ oil companies compensated the Cuban regime with 1,000 dollars per month for each Cuban soldier in charge of guarding the oil installations in Cabinda, an enclave belonging to Angola.”
Since the original DNA report in September 2023, Gutiérrez has only expanded his work with the Ukrainian government by working hand in hand with Zabloktskyi and Ukrainian official Aleksandr Morezkho.
The Cuban pro-democracy leader and acclaimed author of “Cuba: The Doctrine of Lies” states that, based on his Ukrainian and Cuban sources, “they estimate that 5,000 soldiers” have been forced to serve for Russia.
He also adds that some of the research being collected comes directly from Cuban soldiers and their families, and that the increase in numbers may be due to continuous recruitment in recent months.
“Talking to the people who are there and their families, that figure is not wrong. After Miguel Díaz-Canel’s visit to Moscow, that number will probably double.”
DNA sources have also repeatedly warned of a treaty between Cuba and Belarus to send Cuban troops to Belarus and assist Moscow in its efforts against kyiv.
Gutiérrez assures that Cuba’s efforts in sending troops is part of a collective international push led by Moscow to help Russia in its war efforts against Ukraine.
“The Iranians provided the drones, North Korea provided the missiles, and Cuba is providing troops,” Gutiérrez told ADN. “This is what the Cuban regime does: it sends young people to die in wars that have nothing to do with Cuba.”
The president of the Cuban Resistance Assembly pointed out that, although Western Europe has helped Ukraine in its efforts against Putin, it continues to support the Cuban regime with financing, which translates into support for the Kremlin’s efforts.
“On the one hand they sanction Putin and on the other they give money to Putin’s subordinate: the Cuban regime. The EU sends no less than 155 million dollars a year in euros, and if the Paris Club loans are added it is a total of 4,000 million dollars,” he told ADN.
According to Ukrainian officials who spoke to the Wall Street Journal, the Kremlin has also recruited soldiers from the Central African Republic, Nepal, Serbia and Syria.
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Gelet Martínez Fragela is the founder and editor-in-chief of ADN America. She is a Cuban journalist, television producer, and political refugee who founded ADN Cuba.
