Tension Rises in Havana as Cuba Faces UN Vote Amid Allegations of Mercenaries in Ukraine

Havana is currently experiencing a palpable sense of tension. As another United Nations vote approaches regarding the resolution demanding an end to the U.S. embargo, Miguel Díaz-Canel's regime faces its most challenging diplomatic scenario in thirty years. Allegations that thousands of Cubans are fighting as mercenaries in Russia's war against Ukraine, supported by documents, testimonies, and Ukrainian intelligence data, have escalated from mere rumors to a central argument in Washington's international offensive against the Cuban government.

The U.S. pressure has already led to an internal State Department cable—leaked by Reuters—directing its diplomats to persuade allies to vote against or abstain from the UN vote, where Cuba has historically garnered overwhelming support. The cable describes Havana as "the second-largest contributor of foreign troops to the Russian aggression after North Korea," estimating between 1,000 and 5,000 Cubans enlisted in Vladimir Putin's army.

This diplomatic blow strikes at the heart of a regime that once boasted near-unanimous consensus against the embargo. For the first time since 1992, international support for Cuba might fracture, rendering the victim narrative unsustainable.

Denial and Damage Control: The Regime's Response

Hours after the U.S. cable became public, Cuba's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MINREX) issued an urgent statement categorically denying Cuba's involvement in the Ukrainian conflict, labeling the accusations as "false" and "defamatory." "Cuba is not part of the armed conflict in Ukraine, nor does it participate with military personnel there, or in any other country," asserted the regime's foreign ministry in a rigid statement that left more questions than answers and exposed Havana's anxiety. "The U.S. government has not and will not provide any evidence to support its unfounded claims."

However, their response followed the usual playbook: denial, victimization, and blaming the embargo for all the accumulated woes of a totalitarian regime clinging to power for over 60 years.

In a weak attempt to show transparency, MINREX recalled that between 2023 and 2025, nine trials for mercenarism were conducted against 40 individuals, resulting in 26 convictions with sentences of up to 14 years in prison. These proceedings, which Havana initiated to contain the initial revelations of Cuban mercenaries in Ukraine, have since become shrouded in secrecy, with no further details disclosed by the regime.

Overwhelming Evidence

Reports from BBC, CNN, Politico, The Wall Street Journal, France 24, Deutsche Welle, RFE/RL, Forbes, América TeVé, and independent Cuban media like CubaNet, El Toque, Diario de Cuba, and our newsroom have documented the mass recruitment of Cubans in Russia's Ryazan region since 2023. This recruitment, organized by Russian and Cuban intermediaries with the Cuban authorities' tolerance, has been thoroughly investigated.

The Ukrainian project Quiero Vivir has identified over 1,000 contracts signed by Cuban citizens with the Russian Armed Forces, and Ukrainian intelligence places the total at over 20,000 recruits since the conflict began. Non-governmental organizations like Prisoners Defenders, think tank experts from Chatham House, European Union parliamentarians, and State Department officials have confirmed reports of Cuban mercenaries in Ukraine.

The scale, timing, and flight routes from Varadero and Cayo Coco—aligned with bilateral agreements between Moscow and Havana tracked by CiberCuba—demonstrate that the trafficking of men to the front lines was not an isolated event but a state-sanctioned operation.

An Unfavorable International Context

The regime's anxious response is not occurring in isolation. The administration of Donald Trump, which returned to the White House in January, has reinstated a hemispheric containment doctrine aimed at isolating Russia's, China's, and Iran's allies in Latin America.

In recent weeks, U.S. troops have been deployed in the Caribbean for joint maneuvers with the Dominican Republic and Barbados, and the Southern Command has increased its naval presence near Venezuela, where Nicolás Maduro's regime faces an unprecedented internal crisis.

In this geopolitical landscape, the Cuban regime finds itself exposed as a significant part of the Moscow-Caracas-Havana axis, dependent on Venezuelan oil and Russian financing but lacking economic and political leverage.

As Moscow uses Havana as a logistical and symbolic base of influence in the continent, the Cuban regime clings to its old ally for economic oxygen, paying the price of growing military subordination.

The weakening of Maduro's regime exacerbates the situation: the Venezuelan collapse reduces crude shipments to the island, and the Kremlin, preoccupied with its war, has cut its financial support to historic lows.

With daily blackouts, soaring inflation, and sporadic protests, the Cuban regime approaches this UN vote with its questionable internal legitimacy further eroded and its international image tarnished.

The TIP 2025 Report: The Most Serious Accusation

Adding to the diplomatic allegations is a new front: the 2025 Trafficking in Persons Report (TIP) from the State Department, which for the first time includes the recruitment of Cubans for the Ukraine war as a form of state-sponsored trafficking.

The report states that Cuban authorities facilitated the issuance of passports and omitted exit stamps to conceal the departure of recruits, and that state control over mobility makes it impossible for the regime to claim ignorance. What was once considered recruitment networks is now recognized as a state policy of human trafficking.

Washington's shift elevates the case from the geopolitical to the international criminal realm: Cuba is no longer just accused of collaborating with Russia but of using its citizens as war fodder.

A Regime in Tension and Fear of Isolation

In Havana, the political and diplomatic atmosphere is one of nervousness. The Palace of the Revolution fears a shift in the UN trend: fewer votes, more abstentions, increased isolation.

For the first time, the embargo won't be the only issue under discussion; the Ukraine war and Cuban mercenaries have become the axis of an international offensive directly affecting the regime's reputation.

While Díaz-Canel remains silent and Raúl Castro fades from the public eye, Cuban diplomats attempt to extinguish a fire spreading faster than their resistance rhetoric.

The old narrative of being the "victim of imperialism" crumbles in the face of young Cubans fighting—and dying—in the trenches of Donetsk under a foreign flag.

On the streets of Havana, the fear is palpable: fear of crisis, isolation, and consequences. And in the MINREX corridors, nervousness prevails. This time, the UN vote will not only measure embargo policy but the degree of isolation of a regime that chose the wrong side of history.