AREQUIPA, Peru – The Cuban ruler, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, decreed this Sunday an official mourning on the Island from 6:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. on January 20, 2025 on the occasion of the death of 13 Cubans during the incident in the Holguín Military Region.
“With deep dismay our people learned that thirteen brave and selfless soldiers, with exemplary conduct during their service, died in the attempt to put out a fire in a building that stored war material from the Holguín Military Region, in the Eastern Army, at imminent risk of his own life, to avoid the occurrence of a catastrophe,” states the official note reproduced by the state portal. Cubadebate.
The official mourning was signed by the Castro dictator through Presidential Decree 956, contained in the Official Gazette of the Republic, in its extraordinary edition No. 1 of 2025.
According to a note from the Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR), after several days of investigation, it was determined that the probable cause of the accident that occurred on January 7 was an electrical failure due to a short circuit within the facility.
The resulting explosions generated an “extremely complex” environment, with accumulated gases, severe structural damage and risk of collapses, which has prevented access to the site where the victims who “faced the incident to prevent its spread” are located.
Among the deceased, nine were young Military Service recruits without the experience to handle an emergency of this nature and forced to be there by the mandatory nature of the Military service.
The bodies of the accident victims could not be recovered because the location was inaccessible. Their names are:
- Major Leonar Palma Matos, Chief of Staff of the great unit.
- Major Carlos Carreño del Río, Chief of Anti-Aircraft Defense of the large unit.
- Second Petty Officer Yoennis Pérez Durán, Head of Brigade and Works Exploitation.
- Second Petty Officer Orlebani Tamé Torres, Maintenance and Conservation Technician.
- Soldier Leinier Jorge Sánchez Franco.
- Soldier Frank Antonio Hidalgo Almaguer.
- Liander Soldier José García Oliva.
- Soldier Yunior Hernández Rojas.
- Soldier Rayme Rojas Rojas.
Claims and campaign against Compulsory Military Service
During the last weeks, the tragedy of January 7 continued to generate complaints and messages of regret on social networks. Several users have expressed their outrage at the disappearance and alleged death of young recruits whom the Government forced to complete Active Military Service (SMA).
“The mother is devastated, she almost died with the news and she even had to be admitted to therapy,” he told Cuban Diary a close friend of the family of Héctor Adrián Batista Zayas, one of those missing in the accident. Héctor, 20 years old and resident in the La Pedrona neighborhood (Mayarí), was an “only child” and has not yet been located, according to neighbors.
In the Facebook group “Revolico Banes Obelisco”the user Cristian Tatto lamented the loss of José Carlos Guerrero García, one of the nine recruits who disappeared in the Melones military warehouse: “It is something that will always stay with us because, boy, there are not two like you. (…) I still can’t believe how we lost you through no fault of our own.”
Other users joined the demand for justice and demanded an end to the forced military recruitment of those under 20 years of age. “No more children to Military Service, that [las autoridades] Send your children, not ours,” wrote Amanda Hernández.
User Rosalba Álvarez expressed her dismay and rejected the idea that her son also serves in the Armed Forces: “I say that my son is no longer going there, that they should put me in prison, but he is no longer going.” Gabriela Ajo agreed that she also called for the end of mandatory military service and Keyter Álvarez blamed the regime for keeping young recruits “suffering” and “separated from their homes.”
Other users joined the demand for justice and demanded an end to the forced military recruitment of those under 20 years of age. “No more children to Military Service, that [las autoridades] Send your children, not ours,” wrote Amanda Hernández.
User Rosalba Álvarez expressed her dismay and rejected the idea that her son also serves in the Armed Forces: “I say that my son is no longer going there, that they should put me in prison, but he is no longer going.” Gabriela Ajo agreed that she also called for the end of mandatory military service and Keyter Álvarez blamed the regime for keeping young recruits “suffering” and “separated from their homes.”
