On the 13th month anniversary of the death of the young Cuban Antonio Rassi Roque, who passed away on August 18, 2025, while serving in the Military Service, his mother Mercedes Roque published a message of denunciation on Facebook this Friday, describing that period as a chain of cover-ups and complicities without punishment.
"13 months of mockery is what we, the parents seeking justice for the death of a child in the bloody SMO, have received: 13 months of covering for one another with complete impunity," wrote the mother, whose sustained campaign of denunciation has made her one of the most prominent voices among families who have lost a child during their time in the military.
"It is increasingly known worldwide what is happening in the (extermination of Cuban youth), that is, the misnamed Mandatory Military Service, a structure designed to leave thousands of mothers and families with a lifelong pain," he emphasized.
Antonio was only 18 years old when he died at Military Unit 5050, known as "El Calvario," in Havana. His mother handed him over healthy to the unit on July 28. Three weeks later, the young man called her at 8:55 am to say he was going on guard duty. By 2:45 pm, he was already dead. The official version classified the death as suicide, a claim that Mercedes flatly rejects: “It is simply negligence and lack of attention; a death that could have been avoided,” she stated.
From the very beginning, she pointed to the first political lieutenant Aldo Fábregas Ardiles as the main responsible party, along with Captain Ricardo Martínez. In her post on Friday, she directed a direct message to him: "Aldo Fábregas Ardiles, you will always carry in your mind the death of Antonio Rassi Roque and all the abuses you committed against many recruits of the 5050."
He also recalled a meeting months later: "with a severe lack of genitals to look me in the face, as happened on November 19, 2025, when he saw me, his gaze went to the floor."
Mercedes Roque concluded her post with a call to other mothers: "Report even the smallest incidents happening to your children in the military units, before you have a marked day in the month to bring flowers to your children at the cemetery, as is my case and that of many families."
And she reaffirmed her determination: "Even if I do not achieve justice for my son, I will not tire of speaking out, even if it seems in vain."
Mercedes Roque's journey in search of justice has been a systematic path of closed doors. She attempted to visit the unit on August 15 and 24, 2025, but was not attended to. On September 30, she was received by a commission that had no direct connection to the events. In November, the head of the Western Army and the Military Prosecutor promised her "total transparency." The result was the case being shelved.
On July 2nd, Prosecutor Velázquez informed him of the case closure through provisional dismissal, a provision regulated in Article 423 of Law 143 of the Cuban Criminal Procedure that allows for archiving the process with no defined timeframe for its reopening. No official has been prosecuted.
"The death of a recruit is not important, it's just another number. But the death of an officer is," replied the mother at that time. Weeks later, she reported obstacles from the military and judicial authorities to exercise her rightto appeal, and posted a video from her son's grave asserting: "they killed him."
The death of Antonio is one among many young Cubans who have lost their lives during Mandatory Military Service (SMO). Cubalex recorded at least 78 deaths of recruits since 2019, with 19 occurring in just 2025.
The Cuban Observatory of Citizen Audit raised the figure to at least 97 young people who died or went missing during the SMO between 2001 and the spring of 2026. The Ministry of Revolutionary Armed Forces has not issued any public statement regarding any of these cases.
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