Cuba has uncovered a human trafficking ring aimed at recruiting Cubans to fight as mercenaries for Russia in its war in Ukraine, its foreign ministry has said, as Moscow seeks to increase the size of its forces in Ukraine.

In a statement, the Cuban foreign ministry said that the authorities were working to “neutralise and dismantle” the network, which it said was operating within the Caribbean island nation and in Russia.

“The ministry of the interior … is working on the neutralisation and dismantling of a human trafficking network that operates from Russia to incorporate Cuban citizens living there, and even some from Cuba, into the military forces participating in war operations in Ukraine,” the Cuban ministry statement said.

Cuba has a firm and clear historical position against the use of mercenaries … Cuba is not part of the war in Ukraine,” the ministry added.

  • YoBuckStopsHere@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Cuba is the sole example of a functional Communist Government. Their entire economy is based on tourism. Their citizens have more rights than anyone from Florida for example. The nation fully supports the LGBTQ community, it has free Healthcare and has a strong relationship with the European Union with job programs.

    It still needs serious work in regards to human rights as it jails those who oppose the government.

    From a United States perspective they would make a better ally than an enemy so we should continue to work on increasing diplomacy with Cuba.

    • MrSpArkle@lemmy.ca
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      1 year ago

      Most Cubans in Florida vote republican, so I’m not sure how the ground truth looks like in Cuba.

      • jmcs@discuss.tchncs.de
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        1 year ago

        Most Cubans in Florida are the people that are ideologically opposite to the ones that stayed in Cuba.

        • MrSpArkle@lemmy.ca
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          1 year ago

          Targeted propaganda that appeals to the very strong machismo and bigotry that is abundant in Cuban culture.

        • gowan@reddthat.com
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          1 year ago

          No they were the people or ancestors of those who would not benefit from Marxism and/or those who escaped fir various reasons as people always seem to want to escape.

      • WaxedWookie@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        If I wanted to see what the “ground truth” looked like in Cuba, I’d look at Cuba rather than making dopey assumptions based on the people that chose to leave Cuba’s system in favour of the US.