Miami.- Through a official note Published on its Facebook page, the Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR) officially declared the 13 Cubans who were listed as missing in Holguín as dead.
In the early morning of January 7, 2025, an accident occurred at a site that stored war material belonging to the Holguín Military Region, in the Eastern Army.
After several days of investigation, it was determined that the probable cause of the accident was an electrical failure due to a short circuit within the facility. According to the note, 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 recruits of the Military Service without the experience to handle an emergency of this nature and forced to be there by the obligation of the Military service.
The bodies of the accident victims have not been recovered because the place is 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.
In August 2022, a large fire at the Matanzas Supertanker Base ended the lives of 17 firefighters. The flames spread to several warehouses and lasted for seven days.
Among the fatalities, four young people died – between 19 and 21 years old – who were not professional firefighters, but rather were performing Active Military Service and barely had the experience to act in such a scenario. This new incident in Holguín, with nine young people missing, could increase the number of fatalities among recruits.
The Cuban Government does not publish information on the subject, nor does it even mention it. Given this information gap, CubaNet has built your own database which includes more than 40 cases of young people who left their homes for military units and never returned to their families.
