"We are so cold that we spit blood clots." This is how about fifty Cuban students studying in Russian universities in fields related to tobacco, science, innovation, transportation, railways, and oil survive, under conditions that go beyond precariousness. They arrived in Russia proud to be the chosen ones, but once there, the conditions are very different from what was agreed upon. The maintenance sent by the Cuban regime is always delayed by one or two months, and those with family outside of Cuba manage to survive, but those who don’t wallow in absolute misery. Hence, the wave of desertions. Last year, out of 12 scholarship recipients, only two graduated, and only one returned to the Island.
José Alberto Ferrán is one of those students who dropped out of his program a month after arriving in Moscow, returned to Cuba, got a new passport, and left for Nicaragua. From New Jersey, he has spoken with CiberCuba. His account has been corroborated by another person who is currently studying in Russia with a scholarship from the Cuban regime.
For Ferrán, it was an honor to be selected among all the Industrial Engineering students from Pinar del Río to study in Moscow. In Cuba, they told him he would finish his studies at Lomonosov State University, but what they didn’t tell him was that they were going to put him on a plane in December, in the middle of winter, with temperatures below zero, with no money and no coat to go study at a university on the outskirts of Moscow.
They also did not tell him that he would have to pay between 2,000 and 3,000 rubles monthly (20-30 euros) for the residence where he would live with 120 students per floor and a single stove with two burners for all of them to cook. They did not inform him that he would be permanently monitored and threatened with having his visa revoked or that the health insurance paid for by Cuba only covers primary care consultations. The rest must be paid out of pocket by the student, and he must also cover the annual visa renewal fee.
And there are more payments. For example, the bribery of the Russian police, who continuously detain them on the street, especially those who break the rules and leave the city, something that is not allowed by the "trainers from the Embassy of Cuba in Russia," and they threaten them that if they don't pay, they will be taken to prison. Everyone fears being recruited for the war in Ukraine or that there will be an attack at any moment and they will be caught in the midst of the fire. No one has told them what to do in that case, whom to turn to, or where to take refuge.
Among the students themselves, there are informants who report to the Embassy if their classmates skip class, if they are working illegally, or if they are getting bad grades. Furthermore, they have all signed a contract that includes the name of a family member as a guarantor; if they desert, that family member has to pay what the regime has provided for their maintenance, or otherwise, they cannot enter Cuba.
In fact, José Alberto Ferrán, shortly before leaving the country, received a letter demanding payment for the money spent by the Cuban government to send him to suffer cold and hunger in Moscow. He paid no attention and left Cuba after trying to resume his studies at his university on the Island and seeing how, despite having passed the second year of his degree, he was forced to repeat it under the pretext that two new subjects had been added. Faced with so many obstacles, he chose to escape.
Those studying Transport, like José Alberto Ferrán, depend on Gustavo José Cobreiro Suárez at the embassy and Francisco De Castro, head of Training at the Cuban Railway Union. They are the ones who threaten and control them. They also give them talks when a significant event occurs in Cuba.
In Russia, many choose to work on the side in order to eat while waiting for payment from the Cuban government, which, as explained by an official, is authorized but lacks the liquidity to make it effective. When that happens, the euros they receive must be exchanged for rubles, and if they need euros, they have to exchange again. In the back-and-forth exchange, they lose money.
Cobreiro himself, the advisor for Education and Science, at the Embassy, threatens them with canceling their visa and leaving them illegal in Russia if he finds out they are working without a contract. Another risk they have to face is often going without pay because Russian employers promise them 15,000 rubles (150 euros) a week and when Friday comes, the one who hired them disappears and doesn't pay.
Those who live well in Russia are the wealthy kids, like Cobreiro's own daughter, who enjoys the good life there. Those from humble backgrounds not only have to earn money to buy warm clothes and not freeze to death. They also have to send something back to the family they left in Cuba. Their situation is dire, and they only think about marrying a Russian or a Russian woman; seeking asylum at the American Embassy or reaching Spain by crossing borders.
They have tried everything, and the safest option today is to give up on the race, risk having their visa canceled and being left illegal in Russia, or leave there as soon as possible, return to Cuba, obtain another passport, and flee through Nicaragua, as José Alberto Ferrán did. On top of that, the degree they earn at the Russian university has no international validity, because it is as if they had studied in Cuba. They have no motivation to move forward and take advantage of this "opportunity" that the Cuban regime has given them. Many give up because they are unable to overcome this survival test.
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