Havana/The Council for the Democratic Transition in Cuba (CTDC) denounces the direct implication of the Cuban regime in the Russian invasion against Ukraine, comparing it with military cooperation in Africa since the 60s. In a statement published on Tuesday, the organization says that alignment with Moscow has led Havana to repeat practices that violate international law and that they date back to war in Angola country to 36,000 Cubans.
According to Ukrainian intelligence reports, they are 20,000 recruited Cubans As mercenaries on the Russian side, a smaller figure, but that “in geopolitical terms” is a “scandalous” investment. If the number is true, Cuba would be the second supplier of mercenaries for Russia only behind North Korea.
Going from helping Angola in his struggle for independence actively supporting “an imperialist aggression to a sovereign country in the 21st century” represents a radical change in Havana’s foreign policy, CTDC remarks. Although, it emphasizes, the island supports “Russian imperialism in all its adventures since 1968”.
The CTDC has positioned “on the side of the Ukrainian people and international law” since the beginning of the war, says the organization, which describes the invasion as “a war of expansionist aggression in its worst expression: that of the genocide that seeks to eliminate state identity and as a nation of a people.” To this type of interest, he adds, it is those that Cuba has been signed in order to win the favor of the Kremlin.
The Cuban Constitution and Criminal Code prohibit mercenarism, but the Government of the Island has not taken measures to stop it after knowing the presence of Cubans in the Russian army
The Cuban Constitution and Criminal Code, adds, prohibit mercenarism, but the government of the island has not taken measures to stop it after knowing the presence of Cubans in the Russian army. In the words of the CTDC, it was expected “that the Government of Cuba took the corresponding judicial and criminal actions” and to close the roads that allow hundreds of Cubans to participate in the war, attracted by prebendas offered by Russia.
On the contrary, the official silence has led to what they describe as “a dangerous normalization of the alignment of Cuba with the Russian attempt to redraw the borders within Europe”, especially at a time when Russia has begun to violate the airspace of European countries.
“The complacency little concealed with the participation of Cuban mercenaries in that unpaved war is the logical result of that imperialist pro obsequence that has always broken, since the 60s of the last century, all the doctrine and tradition of foreign policy of Cuba,” the organization settled.
CTDC also criticizes Havana’s lens to elaborate lists of terrorist assumptions and repress citizens who disagree, while Cuban mercenaries remain captured by Ukraine. It is necessary, it demands that the regime dissipates “the idea that Cuba as a country promotes and feeds mercenarism.”
CTDC also criticizes Havana’s loan to prepare lists of terrorist assumptions and repress citizens who disagree
Last week, during a virtual audience at the US Congress, Andriy Yusov, spokesman for the Ukrainian military intelligence, placed in about 20,000 Cubans who were recruited in Russia, although not all are on the battle front. However, said the spokesman, there is only a real record of 1,000, which have been verified by name and contract. Another 250 have defeated contracts but remain in Russian units.
The regime, which at all times has denied that citizens be recruited on the island to fight in Ukraine, advertisement In September 2023 that had arrested several people linked to a mercenary collection network to Russia and warned that they would be tried in a criminal process that has been known since then.
In July 2025 it was also learned that at least 11 Military of Matanzas They had been arrested in early 2024 for the same reason, after being allegedly recruited by an officer.
