The Ministry of Revolutionary Armed Forces (MINFAR) celebrated the 45th anniversary of the Prevention Troops this Friday with a message on social media that reaffirms their repressive role: "In the Homeland, there will always be space for the 'red berets'", stated the organization, describing the unit as a force dedicated to the "relentless combat against the enemies of the Revolution."
The post, shared on the official MINFAR Facebook account, included an image of the unit's embroidered patch—a five-pointed star in red and black with the initials "FAR" and the inscription "PREVENTION"—stitched onto olive green military uniform fabric.
The Prevention Troops were founded on September 11, 1981 by orders from Raúl Castro within the structure of the MINFAR and are under the authority of Military Counterintelligence (CIM).
Its official mission includes the disciplinary control of officers and soldiers, the supervision of military resources, and the identification of deserters or absentees, effectively turning it into an internal military police force of the Revolutionary Armed Forces.
The unit gained international notoriety following the protests on July 11, 2021, when the U.S. Department of the Treasury sanctioned the Prevention Troops on August 13 of that year under the Global Magnitsky Act for their involvement in repressing peaceful protesters.
These were the first direct sanctions from Washington against a unit of the FAR for internal repression, and they also included officers Romárico Vidal Sotomayor García and Pedro Orlando Martínez Fernández.
Human Rights Watch documented the involvement of Cuban military and police forces, including elite units, in abuses against peaceful protesters during the 11J demonstrations in 2021.
Since then, international pressure has not ceased. In July 2025, the U.S. imposed sanctions on the Minister of the FAR, Álvaro López Miera, and the Minister of the Interior, Lázaro Alberto Álvarez Casas, for human rights violations related to the 11J.
In July and August of this year, Washington issued new sanctions against entities of the Cuban regime, including the Rapid Response Brigades and the Territorial Troops Militias.
The language used by the MINFAR in the commemoration—“relentless combat against the enemies of the Revolution”—reflects the militaristic rhetoric with which the regime justifies the role of its armed forces in relation to the citizenry, at a time of increasing international pressure on its repressive structures.
The 40th anniversary of the Prevention Troops, celebrated on September 11, 2021, was attended by Raúl Castro amidst the wave of repression unleashed after July 11, when the regime deployed its military and police forces against those who took to the streets to protest.
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