“He has been admitted more time than in the service,” said the mother of the young Holguin Julio O. Cobas Aguilera, 18.
Miami, United States. – “I was not prepared for my son to pass military service with everything he has written in his medical history,” he told Cubanet Surama Y. Aguilera de Paz, mother of the young Julio O. Cobas Aguilera, 18, who was recruited by the Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR) to fulfill the active military service (SMA) despite suffering chronic diseases and having extensive medical documentation.
According to Aguilera, who lives in the city of Holguín, his son was declared “suitable with recommendations” and recruited last June 24. Just three days later, on 27, he was first admitted to a medical unit. Since then it has been hospitalized on multiple occasions. “It has been more admitted than in the service,” said the mother.
The young man presents arterial hypertension, history of diastolic dysfunction, asthma and myopia, as recorded in several medical documents dated between June and July 2025, which Cubanet He has been able to review. In one of them, signed by military medical personnel on July 13, it is indicated that the patient requires hyposodic diet and specialized monitoring of uncompromising hypertension. The recipe includes drugs such as enalapril and hydrochlorotiazide.
Despite these conditions, the young man was transferred to the Military Melon Unit, where he continues to serve. “He is a real patient who has been admitted to military facilities during the previous.
In the clinical file it is also recommended to avoid exposure to the sun and stress, difficult conditions to meet in a military environment. “Impossible that in a military unit,” said the mother, who questioned why, with such clear clinical history, the authorities decided to keep him in the SMA.
Julio was admitted again on July 8 after presenting discomfort, hypertension and headaches. On another occasion, he spent nine days in the Regional Medical Unit. “There had an excellent treatment, with medication, diet and monitoring,” Aguilera acknowledged. However, he denounced that the admission was preceded by initial negatives to transfer him to a military hospital: “At first they told him that they would not take it because the day before they had evaluated it and had the pressure well.”
The mother also expressed concern about her son’s emotional state. “The pediatrician suggested that a psychiatrist saw him because he is anxious,” he said. In his testimony to Cubanetwarned about the psychological dangers of military service for vulnerable young people: “Suicidal attempts occur in this age. (…) cases of negligence such as the one we know and nobody pays.”
Aguilera states that it is not against military service as an institution, but denounces that “young people with chronic conditions that threaten their lives are recruited.” “In the case of my son, I do not think they had to give him the ‘Apt’.
Following his complaint on social networks, he was summoned to the Purnian military unit. As he said, in a first encounter with lower rank officers he felt misunderstood: “It was interpreted that my son was pretending.” However, in a second meeting with superiors, he ensures that the treatment was different: “They behaved quite empathic, although they kept talking about the publication; they had bothered them.”
The young man is currently passing, but his mother fears that the situation gets worse when he should return. “It will be a lot of stress for him,” he said. The military service for young graduates of medium technician as their child has a duration of two years, and he has barely begun. “[Es] A long time, ”he lamented.
Before the question about whether he believes that his son will be transferred to a less demanding modality, such as the Youth of Labor (EJT), Aguilera was skeptical: “They say they will move it. When I see it I will believe it and put my faith.” Even so, he reiterated: “To a young man could take it into account to, if they recruit him, put him in the ejst easily for him to travel and have his diet from the house.”
Right in the Melon unitto which Julio Cobas Aguilera would be assigned, last January 7 Nine SMA recruits and four officers died due to the explosion of an armament warehouse and ammunition.
Due to that tragedy, numerous Cuban Internet users requested the end of the forced military recruitment of children under 20 years. “No more children at military service, than [las autoridades] They send their children, not ours, ”wrote the user identified as Amanda Hernández on Facebook.
