The version offered by the Cuban regime about itsinvestigations and arrests of those responsible of an alleged illegal plot of human traffickers thatCubans were recruited into the service of the Russian Army, showed this Thursday a contradiction in the testimony offered to official media by the father of two young people who were interested in the “job offer.”
Following the statement issued on Monday by the Foreign Ministry of the Cuban regime,denying any link with sending young people to the war in Ukraine and reporting on actions of theMinisterio del Interior (MININT) to dismantle an alleged human trafficking network, this Thursday the Cuban official media expanded on this latest news.
Barely 72 hours after the Foreign Ministry's statements, MININT authoritiesannounced the arrest of at least 17 people related to the alleged network.
“As a result of the investigations carried out (…) to date, 17 people have been arrested, of which one of them is the internal organizer of these activities, supported by two other people equally residing in the country,” said the Colonel.César Rodríguez Rodríguez in the programReasons for Cuba of Cuban Television.
Hosted by presenterHumberto Lopez, the program also interviewedJosé Luis Reyes Blanco, Chief Prosecutor of the Directorate of Criminal Proceedings, who warned that “the facts being investigated could integratea crime of 'mercenarism'", which can be punished with sentences of up to 30 years of deprivation of liberty, perpetual deprivation of liberty and also the death penalty..
In its “investigative” and “transparency” desire,Reasons for Cuba delved into the topic and offered the testimony of a father of two young men who were contacted by recruiters in the service of the Russian Army, one of whom went to that countryand the other was arrested by theState Security.
"Now, because of the other son that I have detained there under an investigative process...and thanks to the investigative process I have it retained here"If it wasn't there... I would have lost it too!... they tell me it was..." he saidPedro Roberto Camuza Jovas without finishing the sentence thanks to the edition made by the official media.
The father of the two young people said he felt “a little affected” by not having news of his son who managed to leave for Russia a month and a half ago. “I don't know if he's alive, if he's working. At least I have this one here,” he said, referring to the one who was detained in Cuba.
“And I am fighting with my colleagues at the MININT to move it forward., to do everything best that I can do for him," added Camuza Jovas, apparently unaware of the statements of the regime authorities, or unaware that the "crimes" proven by their courts do not prescribe no matter how much they "fight." with “the MININT colleagues.”
In another fragment of the interview, the father revealed that he had news that his son was being investigated after a call from him telling him that he had gone to speak “with his colleagues from State Security.”
“Later I found out from my colleagues at the MININT, that thanks to them -that they gave him advice, that they helped him, they told him no, to forget that, that he did not need to leave here- He reconsidered, that he had... that [the contract] was for military purposes. Then he... I automatically told him, 'but no, you can't leave here, you have to stay here,'" Camuza Jovas said.
His testimony, full of hesitation, showed striking contradictions with the official version of the Cuban authorities who announced the arrest of several people, suggesting through officials of the Attorney General's Office that they could be accused of "mercenarism" and suffer the corresponding harsh punishments.
Faced with the treatment of these individuals as potential mercenaries by the repressive bodies of a regime that seeks to do “damage control” after the compromising revelations, the testimony of the alleged father of these two young people addresses the matter from the perspective of a “ error” that can be corrected with the help of “the MININT colleagues.”
“I have to thank my colleagues from the Ministry of the Interior because they took him there immediately and transformed his head.… I don't know how they spoke, but for the better… They spoke for the better, because he reconsidered and chose to stay here,” the father concluded.
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