Last April, stories broke out about beatings, mistreatment and unpaid salaries among thousands of Cuban soldiers fighting in the Russian ranks against Ukraine.
Fed up with humiliation and mistreatment, the soldiers of the 428th regiment, based in Donetsk, carried out an operation to kill their own regiment’s commander. It’s a simple task, if you consider the long experience and military expertise of Cuban soldiers from their involvement in conflicts in Africa, Asia and Latin America.
According to reports by the rebel group ATESH, after the incident in Donetsk, the mercenaries were transferred to Rostov in Russia. No more is known about their final destination.
The friendly fire between Cuban and Russian soldiers is a story that demonstrates another great failure of the “Russian operation” in Ukraine. The first story came with the mercenary Wagner Group’s brief uprising against Putin’s regime. Now Russia is importing mercenaries from Cuba, Mali and allied nations in Africa, whose loyalty cannot be guaranteed.
According to a May 1 report by the Ukrainian Defense Intelligence (HUR), Nepalese mercenaries have reportedly deserted from Russian military unit 29328, due to severe casualties, abuse by commanders and unpaid wages.
Russia takes advantage of the need and desperation experienced in Cuba and other countries. It offers $2,000 a month (the average Cuban makes only $30 to $40 a month), Russian citizenship and 15 days of vacation every 6 months. This is an attractive promise that Putin has only half-fulfilled, generating desertions and discontent.
Just a few weeks ago, the Ukrainian government reported that it had captured mercenaries from Nepal, Cuba, Somalia and Sierra Leone, among other countriess. The common link is that they are all coming from places where corrupt, authoritarian regimes govern populations in desperate poverty.
“They have not given us documents,” a Cuban said mercenary in a viral video. “They keep scamming us, they keep deceiving us, we keep dying and no one does anything.”
Cuba is a warlike regime, and so allegations of Cuban mercenaries fighting for Russia in Ukraine are nothing new. Since its beginning, the Cuban dictatorship has sent military troops to countries such as Angola, Ethiopia, Nicaragua, Grenada, Bolivia, Venezuela and many others. In those days, the regime did not hide behind a narrative about “human trafficking,” but openly exported violence in the name of “solidarity.”
The old military alliance between Russia and Cuba seems to be alive, but no so well. In the good old days, the Angola war was the largest joint operation between Cuba and Russia. But that is now in the past. Last week, Cuban leader Miguel Diaz Canel was the only western hemisphere president participating in the “Victory Parade” organized by Vladimir Putin to celebrate the end of World War II. During a bilateral meeting between the two autocrats, no one said a single word about the Cuban mercenaries dying in Ukraine, nor about the assassination of a Russian regimental commander.
After the failed rebellion by Wagner mercenaries, Putin has looked to Cuba for more highly trained soldiers to continue his war of aggression against Ukraine. According to Prisoners Defenders, Russia and Cuba have reached an agreement that allows the dictatorship to hold between 75 and 95 percent of the soldiers’ income.
Cuban law actually prohibits the use of mercenaries. Specifically, Article 135 of the new Cuban Penal Code states that any person who engages in military activities in foreign territory for personal benefit can be punished with sentences of 20 to 30 years, life imprisonment or even capital punishment. Similar legislation exists in Russia. But each country enforces these laws in an arbitrary and self-interested manner, of course.
Although the issue of Cuban mercenaries seems like a footnote to Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine, it is not a minor issue because it adds another war crime and violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty. Today more than ever, Europe and the U.S. must impose sanctions against countries like Cuba that provide human resources and military expertise to commit crimes against humanity in a sovereign country.
In the midst of all this conflict, one thing is clear: Russia is experiencing two wars and is losing both.
While Ukraine fights united for its freedom, its sovereignty and its survival, Russia fights for ambitions, power and old glory. On the battlefield, Ukraine has given the Russians what they deserve. Apparently, the Cuban mercenaries sometimes do that, too.
Arturo McFields Yescas is an exiled journalist, former Nicaraguan ambassador to the Organization of American States and a former volunteer in the Peace Corps of Norway.
