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Rosabel Escalona Rodríguez, a Cuban residing in Mexico, posted a complaint on Facebook detailing the dire situation of her brother Ermis Keyler Escalona Rodríguez, a recruit in the Mandatory Military Service who attempted to take his own life within his military unit located in Bauta, province of Artemisa.
"My name is Rosabel Escalona Rodríguez. I am reaching out to the international community that oversees human rights with the aim of holding the Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces accountable, as my brother Ermis Keyler Escalona Rodríguez attempted to take his own life after returning from leave to his Military Unit," Rosabel wrote in her post.
According to the testimony, during a week-long transfer, Ermis was taken to the province of Holguín and left without resources: "they took him to the province of Holguín, there they let him loose like a dog and he had to pay 10,000 pesos to get to Moa," in the locality of Pueblo Nuevo Centeno.
Upon arriving home, he found his family in a state of extreme hardship: his father recovering from a recent heart attack, and his mother along with a younger sister supporting him with what they produce from a small plot of land.
At the end of the pass, Ermis had no money to pay for his return to the unit, but he was pressured daily by phone to come back under the threat of detention.
Once back in Bauta, he requested a transfer to a unit closer to his home so he could support his sick father. When denied, he attempted to hang himself and was admitted to the Naval Hospital.
The mother arranged from Moa for a letter from the local Military Sector accepting the transfer, which was sent via WhatsApp to a cousin in Havana to deliver it to the officer in charge. However, Ermis was transferred to another hospital and continues to state that if he is not sent with his family, he will attempt to take his own life again.
"Every time she talks to him, she says he can't take it anymore, that if they don't send him to where his parents are to help support his family, he will take his own life," Rosabel recounted.
The mother cannot travel to Havana because the tickets cost over 18,000 pesos, which is unaffordable for the family. "My mom doesn't have the money to go to Havana in person; the tickets cost more than 18,000 pesos, and transportation in the capital is extremely expensive," Rosabel wrote.
A particularly serious issue is that, according to the complaint, the Military Prosecutor's Office is demanding charges against the recruit for attempting to take his own life within the unit: “the Military Prosecutor's Office is requiring the lieutenant who attends to him to accuse my brother of attempting to commit suicide inside the Unit.”
Rosabel, who left Cuba due to political differences and is stranded in Mexico trying to reach the United States, described her brother's situation as that of someone "almost mentally imprisoned," pointing out that the military authorities "struggle to grant him a transfer, regardless of the fact that his life is at risk."
The case adds to a documented pattern of deaths and tragedies in the Cuban Mandatory Military Service. In March 2026, Dailier Rodríguez Tamayo, 19 years old, died in El Cotorro despite a doctor from the Naval Hospital ruling that he should not carry weapons or be subjected to stress. In February 2026, Abraham Limonta Estrada, 17 years old, took his own life in the La Marquesita military unit in Guantánamo.
Between 2018 and early 2026, Archivo Cuba and Cubalex documented at least 67 deaths of recruits in the Cuban military service: 27 by suicide, 16 due to serious negligence, and 14 by accidents. In 2025 alone, at least 19 young people died during their time as recruits.
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