Oemis Romagoza Durruthy, a Cuban born in Camagüey who has been teaching dance in Russia for years, is wanted internationally by European authorities, who link him to a network responsible for arson attacks and other acts of sabotage in several countries of the European Union during 2024.
A investigation by DW, published this Monday in collaboration with media outlets from Lithuania, the Czech Republic, and Spain, claims that Romagoza allegedly coordinated operations linked to the GRU, the Russian military intelligence.
The Cuban has been residing for at least seven years in Petrozavodsk, Russia, where he runs the Latin dance academy Made in Cuba and teaches salsa, bachata, and kizomba classes. However, online, he is said to have used the aliases "God" and "Adrián" for a very different activity.
Based on confidential court documents, leaked data, and interviews with security officials, the investigation reconstructed a network of at least 12 recruits, mostly from Latin America, who allegedly received assignments to carry out sabotage in Poland, the Czech Republic, Romania, and Lithuania between May and September 2024.
Recruitment was carried out through Facebook and Telegram. Some ads offered $1,500 plus a bonus for each completed operation and were looking for individuals with military experience for tasks related to "monitoring, intelligence, logistics," and "tactical maneuvers."
Among those recruited was Luis Alfonso Murillo Diosa, a 34-year-old former Colombian soldier who sought to join the Ukrainian Army to earn money and support his family.
According to the investigation, "God" contacted him via Facebook, arranged his flight, accommodation, and transportation, and sent him to Bucharest in July 2024. There, he received instructions to photograph and subsequently set fire to a recycling plant.
Murillo was arrested near the facilities before carrying out the attack and was sentenced to six years in prison for attempted sabotage in 2025.
The Lithuanian Prosecutor's Office included Romagoza in an international search list and in January 2026 filed terrorism charges against six foreigners for the attempted arson of the TVC Solutions facilities in Šiauliai.
The Cuban is among the fugitives in the case, and authorities believe he may be staying in Russia. Romagoza married a Russian citizen in 2022 and subsequently acquired citizenship of that country.
According to DW, at least nine of its alleged recruits have been arrested and two are serving sentences ranging from six to eight years.
The case is part of a strategy attributed to Moscow to employ what's known as "disposable agents": individuals recruited online to carry out operations in other countries, sometimes without knowing who is really behind the assignments.
Keir Giles, a researcher specialized in conflicts, explained to DW that Russia began to increasingly resort to this type of operations after European countries expelled numerous Russian diplomats following the invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
"Russia does not have to take special care in covering its tracks, because it poses no inconvenience to them if they are detected," stated Giles.
The case adds another dimension to the recruitment of Cubans linked to Russia, which has so far been mainly highlighted by the involvement of island citizens in the war against Ukraine.
The public image of Romagoza, meanwhile, continues to be that of a dance instructor. In April 2026, while he was already wanted by European authorities, Made in Cuba released a video of him teaching a salsa class in front of a mirror, to the rhythm of Cuban music.
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