Teenagers in Putin's War: Unveiling the Cuban Mercenary Scandal in Ukraine

In late August 2023, two young Cubans, Alex Rolando Vega Díaz and Andorf Antonio Velázquez García, both aged 19, shattered the silence surrounding a mounting rumor on social media and among international analysts: the recruitment of Cuban mercenaries to serve the imperial ambitions of Vladimir Putin. From a Russian military base where they were sent under false pretenses, they recorded a video. Exhausted, with subdued voices and fear-stricken eyes, they exposed what had been mere speculation: Cuba was sending its youth as cannon fodder to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

The video, dispatched to influencer Alain Paparazzi Cubano, became undeniable evidence. “We are 19-year-old boys, supposedly in Russia for a contract, but it was all a scam, a deception,” they confessed in the recording that opened Pandora's box.

“They told us we were going for construction, to repair war-devastated homes, trenches, remove debris... Everything was a lie. We haven't been paid, we don't have passports or documents. They took everything from us as soon as we arrived here,” added the young men, speaking from a hospital room. This revelation marked the explosion of the recruitment scandal involving Cuban teenagers by the Russian military.

The Trap: Work in Russia, Frontline in Ukraine

Both young men were recruited in July 2023. They shared that they were promised jobs as laborers or warehouse staff in Russia, with salaries ranging from $2,000 to $2,500 a month.

“They told us not to worry, just sign. We signed. They sent us to Ukraine. We ended up in Ukraine, on the third line, everything was calm... We got sick and were sent back here, but our friends are on the frontline. Nobody mentioned this,” they told Alain Paparazzi in an interview.

Unable to speak Russian, these inexperienced mercenaries signed contracts they couldn't understand. Once on site, they were taken directly to military units, handed uniforms, bulletproof vests, and rifles.

“The claim that Cubans are fine is false… many Cubans are missing, and it's all a scam. The contract was made by a Cuban woman and a Russian woman. We haven't been paid; we're stuck here in this hospital, and no one knows anything,” they pleaded in a cry for help that became the first public denunciation of a grim scheme.

“We Are Afraid”: Voices from the Base

On September 2, a new recording underscored the severity of the situation. In it, Vega Díaz and Velázquez García, along with other youths, expressed their desire to return home but said they had been moved to a military training camp in Ryazan.

“Please, help us, try to get us out of here as quickly as possible, because we are afraid,” Vega Díaz implored Cuban journalist Rolando Nápoles from AmericaTeVé.

“We are okay, but we are scared,” the young men reiterated in a conversation where they explained their phones were returned “due to media pressure,” but they were still under surveillance.

Velázquez García's testimony was one of the harshest messages from these young Cubans. “We can't sleep because we don't know if at any moment they might come in and do something to us while we're sleeping. We are very afraid.”

Additionally, the youths revealed that Vega Díaz suffered from widespread arthritis and Velázquez García had only one kidney. They also claimed to have endured torture.

“They beat us while we were naked. They stripped us of all our clothes and beat us. For no reason, because we spoke to them in English and they said the Americans sent us here and demanded we confess,” Vega Díaz stated, while his companion confirmed they were naked and beaten “with fists” by three torturers.

Finally, Velázquez García expressed gratitude to his father for fighting for him and pleaded with the Cuban government: “Intercede and bring us back home.”

Parents: Agony, Phone Calls, Official Silence

The parents of these young men also spoke out. Interviewed at the end of August 2023 by Juan Manuel Cao for AmericaTeVé, Caridad Díaz (Cary), mother of Vegas Díaz - residing in Santa Clara - explained that her son found the “job” offer through Facebook. She confirmed that a Russian woman and a Cuban woman formalized the supposed contract.

“They read him the document outlining all the benefits he would get. I read it too, that it was for that, for 'forced labor' [workforce],” the mother explained during the interview.

She insisted that she repeatedly asked one of the involved parties -with whom she spoke by phone- if there was any connection to the war, and was told no. “I was told that at no point was any Cuban authorized to go to the frontline, that they would support wherever they were placed,” she explained.

Vegas Díaz was asked if he had a passport, and after handing it over, his trip was expedited through Varadero airport, where his family went to see him off on the 6th of an unspecified month. The mother emphasized that at no point were they told he was going to war, stressing her son had no military training.

“My child is a very good boy, very healthy, well-liked. The whole neighborhood is worried about him, crying in the streets, praying for him,” the woman added.

“The last time he spoke with me, he said he was going to a paratrooper unit, to support the paratroopers, and that he would get paid for that too. They had the right to citizenship, a Russian passport, and could bring their parents, wives, and children. As soon as he filled out the paperwork, they gave him a Russian phone line and a thousand rubles,” she detailed about the supposed benefits of the murky contract.

“He got excited to try to improve the economic situation here,” the mother justified, also mentioning that he would be paid a salary for the contract and another for wherever he was placed to work. She also indicated that there were allegedly Cubans imprisoned in Russia for refusing to go to the frontline.

Mario Velázquez, father of Velázquez García, called on the international community to prevent the Cuban regime from continuing to send young people contracted by Russia to participate in the invasion of Ukraine.

“I appeal to international public opinion, the UN, and countries opposed to this dirty war to stop thousands of Cuban youths from being sent to that slaughterhouse, to put it bluntly,” the father urged in early September 2023 on his social media.

From Mexico, where he resided, Velázquez urged his compatriots to protest against the web of mafia-like and imperialist interests connecting the Palace of the Revolution with the Kremlin.

“The one in the photo is my son... My son was deceived like many other young people sent by the Cuban government to a war that - in my opinion - belongs only to them [the regime], not to Cubans,” he declared.

“I also call on parents to unite to prevent more Cuban children from losing their lives in this cruel and ruthless conflict. Now is the time, tomorrow it could be your child, mother, father reading this. If we do nothing, it might be too late,” he added, desperate.

Official Recognition: Too Late, Shifting the Blame

On September 5, the Cuban government, through its foreign ministry, issued an official statement acknowledging “attempts to recruit for participation in the war in Ukraine.”

While claiming to be acting “against this network,” no concrete data or clear repatriation strategy was provided. Days later, the Ministry of the Interior (MININT) announced that 17 people had been detained for recruitment ties, without mentioning any larger institutional responsibilities.

However, before this reluctant acknowledgment by the regime, a Russian official had disclosed to The Moscow Times that many young Cubans were being trained by the military, describing their presence as "part of an unformalized collaboration."

Teenagers to War: The Pattern Revealed by Data

The case of Alex Rolando Vega Díaz and Andorf Antonio Velázquez García was neither an exception nor a slip-up. Data confirms this. An analysis of the list of 1,028 mercenaries leaked by the project “Quiero vivir” reveals a disturbing truth: at least 12 Cubans were recruited under the age of 20.

Most were 18 or 19 years old when they signed their contracts. They were not soldiers or reservists. They were adolescents with no military training, enlisted as if part of a social experiment with deadly consequences.

The most revealing aspect is not just their age but the timing. All contracts were signed between July and September 2023, just as the first public testimonies emerged and evidence began arriving from the front.

In that quarter, with the machinery already in motion, these young people were recruited with valid passports, organized travel, and a plotted itinerary to Russian military bases. It wasn't a series of individual decisions: it was a coordinated operation, executed with precision and institutional cover.

This pattern validates what their parents tearfully recounted on camera: their children did not leave alone, nor were they accidentally recruited. They signed documents they did not understand, guided by promises and driven by poverty, while a structured network with access to minors and logistical support handled the rest.

The coldness of the numbers reveals an uncomfortable truth: Cuban youth was seen as raw material for another country's war, a war that promised them wages and citizenship but delivered trenches, rifles, and betrayal.

Complicity or Negligence?

The accumulation of evidence (testimonies, documents, videos, and official data) indicates that the Cuban government, at best, was negligent. At worst, it was a silent accomplice.

At a minimum, it allowed minors to legally leave the country for a foreign war, without effective migration control, without warning or follow-up.

Some parents reported seeking help from Cuban institutions, receiving no response. Instead of activating a rescue protocol, authorities opted for diplomatic denial until the scandal became international.

Conclusion: The Truth from Two Teenagers’ Lips

The case of Vega Díaz and Velázquez García broke the pact of silence. Their faces, names, and words brought visibility to hundreds of young people who have not been able to speak.

They were not only the first to dare but also the first to confirm that today’s impoverished Cuba is willing to sacrifice its children in the name of survival.

In their own words: “We were deceived. We want to go home. Help us.” Since then, nothing more has been heard from these young men who appear on the list revealed by Ukrainian intelligence, but whose fate remains unknown.

Their desperate plea for help continues to resonate.