From Miami’s Exiles to Ukraine’s Trenches
In Miami, we just lately spoke with a Ukrainian citizen who was blunt: “A big variety of Cubans are preventing on behalf of Russia.” His certainty echoes what’s now surfacing by way of intelligence leaks, investigative journalism, and testimonies.
This isn’t rumour alone. It suits a wider sample: a regime beneath financial collapse, an ally in want of troopers, and a recruitment community that stretches from Havana to Tula.
For the primary time since Angola within the Nineteen Seventies, giant numbers of Cubans are once more preventing in a overseas struggle—not beneath their flag, however beneath Russia’s.
Proof of Cuban Fighters in Ukraine
- Preliminary stories (2023): In Could 2023, Russian shops in Ryazan reported Cubans signing contracts with the Russian Military in change for citizenship. By summer time, movies surfaced of younger Cubans claiming that they had been deceived into fight.
- Recruitment networks: In September 2023, Cuba’s authorities introduced it had uncovered a trafficking ring and arrested 17 people.But proof of continued flows emerged quickly after, elevating doubts about Havana’s sincerity.
- OSINT affirmation: RFE/RL’s investigative unit Schemes documented Cuban recruits coaching at Russia’s 106th Guards Airborne Division in Tula, utilizing social media geolocation and satellite tv for pc imagery.
- Ukrainian estimates: A Ukrainian diplomat informed The Wall Street Journal in February 2024 that round 400 Cubans had been on the entrance. One other MP cited 1,500–3,000. By June 2025, El País, citing Ukraine’s GUR intelligence, reported a cumulative 20,000 recruits since 2022, with 6,000–7,000 lively at any given time. These figures stay unverified by Western intelligence however point out the dimensions of concern.
Roles, Recruitment, and Exploitation
Cuban fighters are usually not in rear posts—they’re infantry in Kherson, Donbas, and Bakhmut. Casualties, like that of 21-year-old Raibel Palacio (killed in Kherson in late 2023), affirm their presence on the entrance traces.
Recruitment ways are strikingly constant:
- Guarantees: Roughly $2,000–$2,500 month-to-month pay and Russian citizenship.
- Actuality: Minimal coaching, poor tools, and unpaid wages. Some recruits found that upon receiving citizenship, they might be mobilized indefinitely.
- Deception: Many had been informed they might work in building or safety. One recruit informed Politico that they had “signed a contract with the satan”.
Ukrainian officers declare as a lot as 40% of those recruits could also be from Cuba’s personal navy or safety companies—a severe allegation that is still conteste.
Why the Secrecy?
- Havana: Maintains believable deniability, framing fighters as trafficking victims. Open acknowledgment might spark home outrage and worldwide sanctions.
- Moscow: Overseas fighters fill manpower gaps however admitting reliance undermines Putin’s narrative of patriotic mobilization.
- Kyiv: Highlights Cuban involvement selectively, usually to EU and Hispanic American audiences, however avoids overemphasis to maintain the highlight on Moscow and Tehran.
Geopolitical Motives
1. Financial lifeline: Russia has forgiven billions in Cuban debt and provides very important oil. Sending manpower is Havana’s method of paying again.
2. Strategic alignment: Supporting Moscow indicators anti-American solidarity, in step with Havana’s worldview.
3. Home strain aid: Exporting unemployed or disaffected youth reduces potential unrest at residence.
4. Manpower as forex: If GUR estimates maintain, Cuba is exporting fighters at a scale not seen since Chilly Battle interventions—although this time for money and passports, not ideology.
The Return of Cuba’s Expeditionary Legacy
If Ukrainian intelligence is appropriate, Cuba’s covert function in Ukraine represents the largest abroad deployment of Cuban nationals since Angola. Whether or not lots of or tens of 1000’s, the phenomenon is plain: Cubans are preventing—and dying—for Russia.
That is each a tragedy and a warning. For Moscow, Cubans are expendable reinforcements. For Havana, they’re bargaining chips for oil and credit score. For the West, they’re a reminder that the Ukraine struggle will not be Europe’s disaster alone—it’s a international proxy struggle pulling in actors from the Caribbean to the Korean Peninsula.
The views expressed on this article are these of the writer and don’t essentially symbolize the official place of Gateway Hispanic.
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