A Cuban mercenary has warned his compatriots not to fight for Russia in Ukraine.
The unnamed man appears to be carrying the Russian flag as he speaks in Spanish and with a Cuban accent about the situation on the front lines and claims that Cuban soldiers are not getting what they were promised.
“This is a message to all Cuban soldiers who are here in Ukraine,” he said.
‘I’ve been in the war here for a while and we don’t get paid. Many of my friends have already been killed in battle and they are not paying us what they promised.
Russia has recruited soldiers desperate to escape the communist island by luring them with salaries of $2,000 a month. To put things in perspective, the monthly wage in Cuba is less than $20.
A Cuban mercenary warned fellow Cubans against fighting for Russia in Ukraine
However, the Cuban soldier in Ukraine claimed: “There are many things they are doing wrong and I want to say that the salary they pay us is not what it should be.
“Many of my friends died on the front lines 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 fellow Cubans who are in the fight like me, don’t let them continue to lie to you. Don’t take up arms. Do not lose your lives, brothers, I tell you. Put down the weapons. We’re dying and not getting any money.’
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 my family not get any money.’
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 her son Dannys Castillo, 27, is among the Cubans recruited in Russia
Last year, Cuban officials arrested 17 people in connection with what they described as a network to recruit Cuban nationals 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 recruitment office there that “several citizens of the Cuban Republic” had signed up to join the army.
The newspaper Ryazanskiye Vedomosti quoted some Cubans as saying they were there to help Russia “complete tasks in the special military operations zone.” It also said that “some of them would like to become Russian citizens in the future.”
In Havana, prosecutor José Luis Reyes told state TV that suspects are being investigated for crimes including being a mercenary or recruiting mercenaries and could face prison terms of up to 30 years or life, or even the death penalty.
Marilin Vinent, 60, said her son Dannys Castillo, 27, is among the Cubans recruited in Russia.
She said her son and other Cubans traveled to Russia from her home in Havana in late July after being promised construction work.
“They have all been misled,” she said.
Vinent showed reporters photos of her son in her cell phone, including some of him dressed in military gear.
She said her son told her he accepted the offer to go to Russia because he wanted to help the family economically as the island is experiencing an economic crisis and people are facing shortages of certain products.
‘I don’t know if my son is still alive. We don’t know anything,” she said. “What I’d like to do is talk to him.”
Cuban seamstress Yamidely Cervantes told Reuters that her 49-year-old husband Enrique Gonzalez, 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 her part of his sign-on bonus of about 200,000 rubles ($2,040), which she received in Cuban pesos, Cervantes told Reuters.
Last May, a Russian newspaper reported that several Cuban citizens had signed contracts with the Russian armed forces and been shipped to Ukraine in exchange for Russian citizenship.
That is a windfall on the economically affected communist island. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, this is more than 100 times the average monthly salary of 4,209 pesos ($17 on the informal market).
Cervantes’ husband Gonzalez told Reuters via video call from a Russian military base outside the city of Tula, south of Moscow, that he was one of 119 Cubans training there. When he arrived in Russia, he said, he signed a contract to work for the military, translated into Spanish.
“Everyone here knew what they came for,” he said, smiling in military garb as he gave Reuters a digital tour of the camp, surrounded by pine trees. “They came for the war.”
The US State Department has said it is aware of the reports.
“We are deeply concerned that young Cubans have been misled and recruited to fight for Russia in its brutal large-scale invasion of Ukraine, and we continue to monitor this situation closely,” the report said.
Russian law allows foreigners to enlist in the military after signing a contract with the Defense Ministry.
Since September 2022, foreigners who have served in the Russian army for at least one year can apply for Russian citizenship in a simplified procedure, without first obtaining a residence permit.