A Cuban mercenary has warned his compatriots not to fight for Russia in Ukraine.
The anonymous man appears wearing the Russian flag while speaking in Spanish and with a Cuban accent about the situation on the front, claiming that Cuban soldiers are not paid what they were promised.
“This is a message for all Cuban soldiers who are here in Ukraine,” he said.
‘I’ve been here at war for a while and we don’t get paid. Many of my friends have already died in combat and they don’t pay us what they said they would pay us.’
Russia has recruited soldiers desperate to escape the communist island by luring them with promises of salaries of $2,000 a month. To put things in perspective, the average monthly salary in Cuba is less than $20.
A Cuban mercenary warned his fellow Cubans not to fight for Russia in Ukraine
Last May, a Russian newspaper reported that several Cuban citizens had signed contracts with the Russian armed forces and had been sent to Ukraine in exchange for Russian citizenship.
However, the Cuban soldier in Ukraine stated: ‘There are many things they are doing wrong and I want to say that the salary they are paying us is not what it is supposed to be.
‘Many of my friends died at the front without documentation, they don’t want to give us documentation.
“They keep scamming us and lying to us and we keep dying and no one does anything.”
The soldier then spoke directly to those in his position, saying: ‘To all my Cuban comrades who are in combat like me: do not let them continue to lie to you. Don’t take up arms. Don’t lose your life, brothers, I tell you. Put down your weapons. “We’re dying and we’re not getting paid.”
The soldier then appeared to address the risk he is likely taking by filming the video.
He said: “I would rather be sent to Moscow than lose my life and have no money for my family.”
Cuba and Russia are political allies and Cubans do not need a visa to travel to Russia. Many go there to study or work.
Marilin Vinent said that her son Dannys Castillo, 27, is one of the Cubans recruited in Russia
Last year, Cuban officials arrested 17 people in connection with what they described as a network to recruit Cuban citizens to fight for Russia in Ukraine.
In May 2023, a newspaper in Russia’s Ryazan region, about 100 miles southeast of Moscow, reported from a military enlistment office there that “several citizens of the Republic of Cuba” signed up to join the military.
The Ryazanskiye Vedomosti newspaper quoted some Cubans as saying they were there to help Russia “complete tasks in the zone of special military operations.” He also said that “some of them in the future would like to become Russian citizens.”
In Havana, prosecutor José Luis Reyes told state television that the suspects are being investigated for crimes, including being a mercenary or recruiting mercenaries, and could face sentences of up to 30 years or life in prison, or even the death penalty.
Marilin Vinent, 60, said her son Dannys Castillo, 27, is one of the Cubans recruited in Russia.
From his home in Havana last September, he said his son and other Cubans traveled to Russia at the end of July after being promised construction work.
“Everyone was fooled,” he said.
Vinent showed reporters photos of his son on his cell phone, including some of him dressed in a military uniform.
Gunners from the 43rd Separate Mechanized Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces fired on a Russian position in the Kharkiv region earlier this month.
He said his son told him that he had accepted the offer to go to Russia because he wanted to help the family financially, as the island is suffering an economic crisis, with people facing shortages of some products.
‘I don’t know if my son is alive. We don’t know anything,’ he said. “What I would like is to talk to him.”
Cuban seamstress Yamidely Cervantes told Reuters that her husband Enrique González, 49, a struggling bricklayer, left their home in the small town of La Federal on July 19, 2023 to fight for the Russian army in Ukraine.
Days later, he transferred part of his signing bonus of about 200,000 rubles ($2,040), which she received in Cuban pesos, Cervantes told Reuters.
That represents a windfall for the economically battered communist-ruled island. It is more than 100 times the average monthly state salary of 4,209 pesos ($17 in the informal market), according to the national statistics office.
Servicemen of the 1148th independent artillery brigade of the Ukrainian air assault troops fire an M777 howitzer at Russian troops on April 20.
Cervantes’ husband, González, speaking by video call from a Russian military base outside the city of Tula, south of Moscow, told Reuters that he was one of 119 Cubans training there. When he arrived in Russia, he said, he had signed a contract to work for the army, translated into Spanish.
“Everyone here knew what they were coming for,” he said, smiling in military fatigues as he gave Reuters a digital telephone tour of the camp, surrounded by pine trees. “They came for war.”
The US State Department has said it is aware of the reports.
“We are deeply concerned that young Cubans may have been deceived and recruited to fight for Russia in its brutal, large-scale invasion of Ukraine, and we continue to closely monitor this situation,” he said.
Russian law allows foreigners to enlist in its army, after signing a contract with the Ministry of Defense.
Since September 2022, foreigners who have served in the Russian military for at least one year can apply for Russian citizenship through a simplified procedure, without first obtaining a residence permit.