The Mandatory Military Service claims a new victim in Cuba. The city of Baracoa (Guantánamo) is shocked by the death of young Flavio Raúl Alonso Piedra, 20 years old, found dead at the post where he was on guard as a recruit, just three months away from completing his term as a soldier in the Armed Forces. He was going to turn 21 on August 24.
Sources close to the young man do not believe the official version of the prison where he was doing military service, as the family was told that he had hanged himself with his belt, despite having an AKM in his hands with which he could have shot himself. He could also have jumped from the watchtower, which is situated at a considerable height, but according to the unit commanders, he hanged himself. "They found him on his knees, with his head back and his eyes wide open," says a person close to the family.
His eyes were so wide open that his mother, who was the first to see him, had a hard time closing them. He looked frightened, as if surprised by what he had seen, adds the same source.
Flavio Alonso Piedra had no psychological problems and did not feel bad. He went out on weekends and had plans to go to a friend's birthday party on Friday. "He had bought new clothes and was excited for Friday to arrive," another source adds.
The body of Flavio Alonso was found lifeless on Wednesday, August 8, in the morning. The family held a wake for him at home on Thursday, August 9, until they took him to a place where he can be preserved, awaiting the arrival of his brother Pavel Alonso Piedra, who has traveled from the United States to Holguín for the burial.
Flavio Alonso's father received the news in Camagüey, where he had traveled to accompany a relative to the doctor. In Baracoa, only the mother and the great-grandmother of the deceased were present, who is already very old. Close friends of the father assure that he fainted from the pain of his son's death. His mother has had to be sedated. No one expected something like this.
A consulted source claims that the autopsy shows no marks from the belt on the neck and that the forensic experts have raised doubts that it could have been a murder and not a suicide, as officials from the military unit assert. A relative who has neither confirmed nor denied the incident has merely stated that the events are under investigation.
"We have not yet investigated thoroughly," says a person close to the deceased, who claims that the mother, who spoke with the forensic experts, is not in a position to explain anything to anyone because she is currently devastated.
"There are many stories. Some say he was found dead in the bedroom, hanged with the cord from the AKM," says another source.
"He had an AKM in his hands. He could have shot himself. He could have jumped from the watchtower. That's about two or three meters high. Is he going to hang himself with the belt? He was in a place with a lot of visibility and no one saw anything. Someone must have seen something," adds a source close to the deceased.
"Everyone who knows him and knows who he is doubts that. It couldn't have been a suicide. I wanted to see him in the coffin. His eyes were forced shut," concludes an acquaintance of Flavio Alonso Piedra. A neighbor adds that she doesn't believe anything because "he was a very cheerful boy."
The case of Flavio Alonso is not an isolated incident. More and more testimonies from families who have lost their children while serving in the military are emerging. Sometimes they lose their lives under circumstances that are never clarified. Other times, it is outright suicide because medical advice is ignored that discourages recruiting someone for service if they are not psychologically fit.
That's what happened with Maikol Arcia Hernández, a young Cuban who took his life in 2023 while in service. He had already warned his grandfather of his intentions to shoot himself, and although the family reported it to the unit, the officer in charge said it was "nonsense."
The same thing happened in June 2024 with the Cuban soldier Leandro Muñoz Zamora, who jumped from a moving military bus, and his family believes it "could have been avoided." The 20-year-old, originally from Santa Clara, died instantly, shortly after talking to his girlfriend and telling her what he had already decided to do. He had "papers" that advised against his enlistment in the Military Service due to psychological problems, but he was called up and transferred from Santa Clara to Matanzas to work for six months in construction. On the way to Matanzas, he took his own life.
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