From her son's grave, Mercedes Roque recorded a video this Friday that has spread across social media with a devastating message: Antonio Alejandro Rassi Roque did not take his own life; he was murdered. The young man, a recruit of the Military Unit 5050 "El Calvario" in Havana, passed away on August 18, 2025, while serving mandatory military service. He was 18 years old. This Friday he would have turned 19.
"Today he would have been turning 19, but this is the birthday that was given to him by Aldo, the politician from the 50, the first lieutenant," said the mother in front of her son's grave, pointing directly at First Lieutenant Aldo Fabregas Ardiles as the one directly responsible for his death.
Mercedes Roque describes a pattern of systematic harassment within the unit: bullying, humiliation, and abuse that would have progressively deteriorated Antonio's mental state, who before dying showed visible signs of disorientation, neglect of personal hygiene, and episodes of falling asleep on duty.
"My son had no psychiatric or psychological problems, nothing at all. My son developed those there. And they did not give him the life support he needed," the mother stated, emphasizing that other recruits did notice Antonio's decline, while the officials claim they saw nothing.
The complaint is not new. Mercedes Roque has been demanding justice for 11 months without receiving a response. On June 19, she accused Lieutenant Fabregas Ardiles before the Chief of the Western Army, Eiro Feijó, on five separate occasions, and no one contested her. She also points to Major Ricardo Martínez as part of the group of implicated officers. None have been prosecuted.
The legal pathway has been a barrier. On July 2, Prosecutor Velázquez from the Regional Prosecutor's Office communicated the provisional dismissal of the case and granted her only three days to appeal. When she presented her documentation, she was referred to the Territorial Prosecutor's Office of Calvario, where Lieutenant Colonel Aysel informed her that there were no documents related to the case, effectively blocking her only legal recourse. The mother publicly denounced these obstacles on July 17.
In this Friday's video, Mercedes Roque directly addresses the Minister of MINFAR, the head of the territorial prosecutor's office, Lieutenant Colonel Tamara, Lieutenant Colonel Aysel, and Quintín. She also reports that Fabregas Ardiles himself challenged a recruit to a fight approximately a month and a half prior, questioning his suitability for the position.
"There are 107 children who have died and every death has someone responsible. It is impossible for no one to be held accountable for this," demanded the mother, who describes Mandatory Military Service as "slavery" and denounces that the university enrollment forms of recruits are used as blackmail to force their continued presence in the units.
The case of Antonio Rassi Roque is not an isolated incident. Cubalex has documented at least 78 deaths of recruits since 2019 under opaque or negligent circumstances, with at least 19 fatalities occurring in 2025 alone, seven of which were between July and August of that year. Cuba does not publish consolidated official statistics regarding deaths in military service.
Far from reforming the system, the regime approved in October 2024 the Decree 103/2024, which tightened sanctions for non-compliance with the SMO with fines ranging from 2,500 to 7,000 Cuban pesos for youths starting at 16 years old, extendable to parents and guardians.
Mercedes Roque concluded her statement with a slogan directed at all Cuban mothers: "Not mine. No more mandatory military service in Cuba."
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