September 14, 2023

Cubans Trafficked To Fight in Ukraine


Cubans Trafficked To Fight in Ukraine
Andorf Velázquez García and Alex Vegas Díaz, victims of trafficking, now trapped in Russia. Ricardo Robaina, Twitter.

On August 8, 17 people were arrested in Cuba in connection with a human trafficking scheme that tricked Cubans into going to Russia for "good-paying jobs" when, in reality, they were being sent to Ukraine to fight in Russia's war there. The operation was uncovered after two young men publicly announced that they were tricked.

The 19-year-olds Andorf Velázquez García and Alex Vegas Díaz were desperate to escape Cuba's economic and humanitarian crisis. The young men were offered contracts to work in construction in Russia by a Cuban salesperson known as "Diana" and two Russian women. There was no mention of Ukraine or the war in the contract.

Velázquez García and Vargas Díaz left from Cuba's Varadero Airport in the north of the island, from which Aeroflot operates daily direct flights to Moscow. The men claimed their flight had over 200 Cubans recruited under the same contract. América Noticias estimates that 6,000 to 7,000 men have left Cuba the same way Velázquez García and Vegas Díaz did.

Once in Moscow, a Cuban man in a Russian military uniform received the two men. They were assured they would be sent to a hotel, but wound up in a sports center under construction and received medical exams. As part of their package, both men received Russian citizenship. Velázquez García and Vegas Díaz said a woman completed the required language and history test for them. They were forced to wear military uniforms and receive training. Then, they got sent to the third line of defense in Ukraine. The monthly salary of R200,000 ($2,046) they were promised never came. Their bank accounts were emptied.

At the front, they received little food and were allowed to drink water only once a day. Both began having convulsions and passed out on the battlefield. One of them became sick with pneumonia. All their documents were taken away, and they reported being tortured. If they deserted, they would (as Russian citizens) face 30 years in prison. And returning to Cuba after speaking out against the government was too risky.

In an interview with the YouTuber Alain Paparazzi Cubano, who broke the story, the 19-year-olds begged, "I saw heads busted open... I didn't know what war really was... Please, don't come."

The Cuban government has openly supported Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Yet officials from the island have also said that "Cuba is not a part of the military conflict in Ukraine." The BBC has reported the presence of Cuban mercenaries in Russian trenches, as well as the victims of the trafficking scheme. The Russian government has not commented on the revelations.

You Might Also Like

Leave or Die
  • August 15, 2023

Leave or Die

In which we visit a "typical" Siberian town and dig into the issues and people who live there.
To Stay and Survive
  • August 15, 2023

To Stay and Survive

A filmmaker Elizaveta spent months riding Russia’s rails and discussing the war with fellow travelers.
  • August 15, 2023

"I Am Horrified"

The founder of Russian tech giant Yandex publicly condemns the War on Ukraine.
Antidepressants on the Rise
  • August 03, 2023

Antidepressants on the Rise

Antidepressant use in Russia has skyrocketed over the last year, especially in St. Petersburg.
Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of Our Books

Marooned in Moscow

Marooned in Moscow

This gripping autobiography plays out against the backdrop of Russia's bloody Civil War, and was one of the first Western eyewitness accounts of life in post-revolutionary Russia. Marooned in Moscow provides a fascinating account of one woman's entry into war-torn Russia in early 1920, first-person impressions of many in the top Soviet leadership, and accounts of the author's increasingly dangerous work as a journalist and spy, to say nothing of her work on behalf of prisoners, her two arrests, and her eventual ten-month-long imprisonment, including in the infamous Lubyanka prison. It is a veritable encyclopedia of life in Russia in the early 1920s.
Survival Russian

Survival Russian

Survival Russian is an intensely practical guide to conversational, colloquial and culture-rich Russian. It uses humor, current events and thematically-driven essays to deepen readers’ understanding of Russian language and culture. This enlarged Second Edition of Survival Russian includes over 90 essays and illuminates over 2000 invaluable Russian phrases and words.
The Moscow Eccentric

The Moscow Eccentric

Advance reviewers are calling this new translation "a coup" and "a remarkable achievement." This rediscovered gem of a novel by one of Russia's finest writers explores some of the thorniest issues of the early twentieth century.
Fish: A History of One Migration

Fish: A History of One Migration

This mesmerizing novel from one of Russia’s most important modern authors traces the life journey of a selfless Russian everywoman. In the wake of the Soviet breakup, inexorable forces drag Vera across the breadth of the Russian empire. Facing a relentless onslaught of human and social trials, she swims against the current of life, countering adversity and pain with compassion and hope, in many ways personifying Mother Russia’s torment and resilience amid the Soviet disintegration.
Faith & Humor: Notes from Muscovy

Faith & Humor: Notes from Muscovy

A book that dares to explore the humanity of priests and pilgrims, saints and sinners, Faith & Humor has been both a runaway bestseller in Russia and the focus of heated controversy – as often happens when a thoughtful writer takes on sacred cows. The stories, aphorisms, anecdotes, dialogues and adventures in this volume comprise an encyclopedia of modern Russian Orthodoxy, and thereby of Russian life.
A Taste of Chekhov

A Taste of Chekhov

This compact volume is an introduction to the works of Chekhov the master storyteller, via nine stories spanning the last twenty years of his life.
Maria's War: A Soldier's Autobiography

Maria's War: A Soldier's Autobiography

This astonishingly gripping autobiography by the founder of the Russian Women’s Death Battallion in World War I is an eye-opening documentary of life before, during and after the Bolshevik Revolution.
Bears in the Caviar

Bears in the Caviar

Bears in the Caviar is a hilarious and insightful memoir by a diplomat who was “present at the creation” of US-Soviet relations. Charles Thayer headed off to Russia in 1933, calculating that if he could just learn Russian and be on the spot when the US and USSR established relations, he could make himself indispensable and start a career in the foreign service. Remarkably, he pulled it of.
Okudzhava Bilingual

Okudzhava Bilingual

Poems, songs and autobiographical sketches by Bulat Okudzhava, the king of the Russian bards. 
Turgenev Bilingual

Turgenev Bilingual

A sampling of Ivan Turgenev's masterful short stories, plays, novellas and novels. Bilingual, with English and accented Russian texts running side by side on adjoining pages.
Moscow and Muscovites

Moscow and Muscovites

Vladimir Gilyarovsky's classic portrait of the Russian capital is one of Russians’ most beloved books. Yet it has never before been translated into English. Until now! It is a spectactular verbal pastiche: conversation, from gutter gibberish to the drawing room; oratory, from illiterates to aristocrats; prose, from boilerplate to Tolstoy; poetry, from earthy humor to Pushkin. 

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955