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Two Cuban citizens were found severely beaten at the border between Belarus and Latvia after reporting that they were attacked by Latvian agents before being expelled into Belarusian territory, according to the state media sb.by, and confirmed by the portal Reformation with information from the State Border Committee and the Investigative Committee of Belarus.
The events took place on November 17, when border guards from the Polotsk Detachment found a man and a woman in shock, with visible signs of violence, near a Latvian border facility.
According to the migrants themselves, Latvian authorities allegedly detained them after entering the country illegally and subsequently brutally beat them with rubber batons and electric stun guns before expelling them through a "dog door" into Belarus.
According to the version released by the Belarusian Investigative Committee, the 28-year-old man explained that he and an acquaintance were trying to reach Spain when they were intercepted in Latvia.
After their arrest, both were taken before an alleged "commander," who reportedly stated that he "did not want to see people like that in Latvia," before the aggression began.
The migrant recounted that, handcuffed and defenseless, he was repeatedly beaten with batons and stun guns. When the woman tried to intervene, she was also attacked. Later, the two Cubans were placed in a van and taken back to the border to be expelled to Belarus.
Severe injuries and hospitalization
According to sb.by, the Belarusian border guards provided first aid, called an ambulance, and notified the investigators.
The doctors diagnosed both Cubans with hypothermia, abrasions, and bruises, but the man's condition was even more delicate as he showed signs of traumatic brain injury. The two were transferred to the Central Hospital of the Braslav District.
These events occur amid a rise in attempts at illegal crossings in the region and come weeks after another incident involving a Cuban citizen at the Latvian border.
Another Cuban was detained weeks earlier at the Russian-Latvian border
On October 9, the public broadcasting service Latvian Public Media (LSM) and the State Border Guard of Latvia reported that a Cuban citizen was detained after illegally crossing the border from the Russian side, in the municipality of Viļaka.
The young man is said to have bent the border fence from underneath to enter Latvia, where he was arrested and faced criminal charges for illegal crossing, as well as administrative penalties for violating residency rules in the border area.
That case was the second in a week of irregular crossings from Russia to Latvia, according to Latvian authorities.
Desperate migration in an increasingly perilous corridor
The presence of Cubans in the border area between Russia, Latvia, and Belarus highlights an uncommon yet increasingly frequented route by migrants seeking to reach the European Union amid tightening immigration policies and controls on traditional corridors.
The situation of the two Cubans who were beaten, currently still under medical care, reflects the rising level of risk, violence, and vulnerability that migrants face in that region.
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