Russia recruits Cubans for the frontlines in Ukraine: ‘It’s all been a scam’ | International

In August 2023, the names of the first Cuban soldiers serving with Russia on the front lines of the war against Ukraine became known: Andorf Antonio Velázquez García and Álex Rolando Vega Díaz, two 19-year-old recruits in uniform, their faces beardless and frightened, appeared in a video pleading for help after being hired from Cuba to supposedly carry out construction work. They said they were promised a monthly salary of over $2,000 and that they would be guaranteed a Russian passport. Without understanding how, they ended up in the combat zone. “It’s all been a scam,” they stated at the time. “We need your help to get out of here.”

These statements had a strong impact in Cuba and fueled suspicions in a sector of society that the Havana government was silently facilitating the deployment of mercenaries to the war, supporting its long-standing partner in the conflict. Last May, the Intelligence Directorate of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense (GUR) released an estimate that puts the number of Cubans mobilized since the beginning of the Russian invasion in 2022 at 20,000.

According to Ukrainian intelligence data — obtained from the analysis of foreign passports of mercenaries who signed contracts with the Russian army, to which they had access — this is the largest Cuban intervention abroad since the Angolan war in the mid-1970s. Between 6,000 and 7,000 Cubans are currently on the battlefield, according to the same sources, the second -largest contingent after the more than 10,000 soldiers sent by North Korea. Ukraine estimates that between 200 and 300 Cubans have died in the war.

Some of the stories of deceased Cubans have spread on social media: last year, for example, that of 21-year-old Raibel Palacio, who died after a Ukrainian drone attack; 26-year-old Yansiel Morejón, a former boxer and teacher; and 31-year-old Michael Valido, who hoped to return to the island soon. There are many more faces and names. There are others who have never been heard from again. Today, for example, nothing is known about Andorf and Álex, whether they returned home after their one-year contracts expired, or if they lost their lives on the battlefield. EL PAÍS attempted to contact their families but has not received a response.

Ukrainian intelligence had already revealed a list of 253 passports belonging to Cuban recruits in 2023. Since then, they say, the numbers have increased. The new report claims that more than 1,000 arrived between March and May, of whom 38 have already lost their lives.

“There is no doubt that the Cuban regime is actively participating in the war against Ukraine, facilitating the active recruitment of mercenaries, and sending its own security troops,” Maryan Zablotskyy, a member of the Ukrainian legislative assembly who presented the report in the United States, told EL PAÍS. According to this information, 40% of the Cuban recruits are part of the government’s military apparatus. “The depth of their knowledge is indisputable. The rest are people who may or may not know what is coming,” Zablotskyy asserts.

Ukrainian intelligence’s work with identity documents has yielded other data: the youngest Cuban to have gone to war was 18 years old, and the oldest was 62. The average age is 38, and there are people from virtually every province in the country. “Cuban mercenaries are offered $2,500 a month,” estimates Zablotskyy. “Based on signing bonuses in Russia and other countries, the Cuban government can easily get $50,000 per mercenary.” From the testimony of some soldiers, it is also known that there have been irregularities with the promised payments. “In all cases, those who sign contracts with the Russian army receive a bonus. Since we know that sometimes these bonuses do not reach the recruits, it is very likely that the Cuban government receives them,” adds the legislator.

A trip to war by “deception”

The names Elena Shuvalova and Dayana became popular in Cuba some time ago. They spread by word of mouth among young people desperate to get away somewhere, no matter where. Their WhatsApp contacts or social media profiles, even the ads they made offering “packages” to travel to Russia, spread like wildfire in Cuban neighborhoods. According to several testimonies, these female recruiters offered contracts in Russian, which people signed without even understanding what was on them. For a one-year contract, they were guaranteed about $2,500 a month, a Russian passport, and free travel.

Many flew to Moscow from Varadero Airport in Matanzas without a visa, as Russia is one of the few countries that doesn’t require this procedure for Cuban citizens. A Cuban who has lived in that country for years, who prefers to conceal his identity, told EL PAÍS that recruits are taken to a military police station to sign the contract, and “when they receive the initial payment, they take the money they spent on the ticket.” “The contract with the Russian army is open, anyone can sign it, and if you’re a foreigner, you can apply for Russian citizenship after a year of service,” he explains.

Amid the economic crisis that has fueled the largest recent exodus from Cuba, this seems to have become a way out for those who didn’t have enough money to reach the United States or to try their luck in another country. However, many of those who have gone claim to have been deceived. “They all claim not to understand the seriousness of war once they face it,” says Zablotskyy. At first, they are told they will be going to work as construction workers, laborers, or security guards.

This is what allegedly happened to Frank Dario Jarrosay Manfuga, a 36-year-old musician and former geography teacher from Guantánamo Bay, in eastern Cuba. Last year, he traveled to Russia to work in construction and ended up enlisting in the army. In March, he was captured by the Ukrainians. In the prison where he remains, he was visited twice by Orlando Gutiérrez Boronat, secretary general of the Cuban Resistance Assembly (ARC), who has denounced the presence of Cubans in the war. Boronat told this newspaper that, on Frank’s first day at the Russian military training center in Ukraine, he saw four Cubans die before his eyes during an attack in Donetsk.

Frank Dario Jarrosay Manfuga (left), recruited by Russia and captured by Ukraine, talks to Orlando Gutiérrez Boronat, secretary general of the Cuban Resistance Assembly. Cortesía

“I took the step out of necessity, not for anything else,” Frank told him during the interview. Today, the Havana government won’t accept him back, and the Moscow authorities don’t recognize him as a mercenary. Frank, however, maintains that he prefers to remain imprisoned rather than return to the misery he experienced on the island, according to Boronat.

“You don’t have to go to war and believe false promises”

In May of last year, Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel wished Russian leader Vladimir Putin “success” in the “special military operation” on Ukrainian territory. This was confirmation of Havana’s support for Moscow since the beginning of the offensive in 2022. It is not in Havana’s best interest to compromise its historic ally, one of the few that has helped sustain the country’s depressed economy in recent years. Between 2006 and 2019, Russia lent Cuba $2.3 billion. In 2014, Putin forgave 90% of Cuba’s $35 billion debt to Moscow. Amid the country’s constant power outages, news broke of a $65 million Russian loan to purchase oil and a $2 million donation to repair the country’s aging power plants. Other agreements refer to investment and tourism promotion.

“Russia has offered some advantages to Cuba, but it expects tangible benefits for them as well,” says economist Ricardo Torres, a former researcher at the Center for the Study of the Cuban Economy and a professor at the American University in Washington. “During the war, I think the Russians appreciated the diplomatic support Cuba has given them, at the UN and in other international forums. The question is, if relations between Russia and the United States improve substantially, and the war ends, what Cuba can offer loses value.”

Cuba, so far, has offered its silence and covert support on international stages. At the beginning of the invasion, however, it denied sending mercenaries to Russia. Following numerous reports of a trafficking network from the island, the government imprisoned 17 people apparently involved. A statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs claimed that “Cuba is not part of the war in Ukraine,” and the government made it clear that a crime of “mercenaryism” could carry up to 30 years of imprisonment. However, it later emerged that the Cuban authorities had released the detainees.

Therefore, a widespread theory is that the recruitment of Cubans to go to war has official complicity. “Of course, no recruitment of this kind would have occurred without the explicit approval of the Cuban government,” says Zablotskyy, who last month denounced the situation in Brussels, at the headquarters of the European Parliament. “There should be sanctions against the regime for its actions. At the very least, I think it’s reasonable for the European Union to cancel the regime’s funding,” he maintains.

Zablotskyy also insists that the cost of going to war is too high for Cubans, who should think twice before taking the step. “The mortality rate among Cubans is very high. The Russians later don’t participate in prisoner exchanges with the Cubans,” he says. “The Cuban government also doesn’t recognize mercenaries and doesn’t ask for the return of those captured. And the Russians break their promises to release anyone within a year. Any Cuban who signs the contract stays indefinitely until the Russians decide to let them go. You don’t have to go to war and believe false promises.”

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