Human Trafficking and Military Recruitment--Cuba Seeks to End Forced Recruitment to Fight for Russia

 

 

Human Trafficking appears to have become an issue in the Russo-Ukrainian War.  But the way that it has emerged ought to raise eyebrows. Russia  has been seeking to (re)build its military strength.  It has become more difficult to do so as its losses increase and the taste for war decreases among Russian youth.  Now it appears that someone either directly or indirectly aligned with the state, has attempted to traffic in Cubans, many already in Russia as economic refugees. That appears to be the gist of a quite curious statement republished in Spanish and other languages in Granma, the official organ of the Cuban Communist Party:

The Ministry of the Interior has detected and it is working to neutralize and dismantle a human trafficking network that operates from Russia in order to incorporate Cuban citizens living there and even some living in Cuba, into the military forces that participate in military operations in Ukraine. Attempts of this nature have been neutralized and criminal proceedings have been initiated against those involved in these activities.

Cuba’s enemies are promoting distorted information that seeks to tarnish the country’s image and present it as an accomplice to these actactions [sic] that we firmly reject.

Cuba has a firm and clear historical position against mercenarism, and it plays an active role in the United Nations in rejection of the aforementioned practice, being the author of several of the initiatives approved in that forum.

Cuba is not part of the war in Ukraine. It is acting and it will firmly act against those who within the national territory participate in any form of human trafficking for mercenarism or recruitment purposes so that Cuban citizens may raise weapons against any country.

Havana, September 4th, 2023 (Cuba counters human trafficking operations aimed for military recruitment purposes)

El Ministerio del Interior detectó y trabaja en la neutralización y desarticulación de una red de tráfico de personas que opera desde Rusia para incorporar a ciudadanos cubanos allí radicados, e incluso algunos procedentes de Cuba, a las fuerzas militares que participan en operaciones bélicas en Ucrania. Se han neutralizado intentos de esta naturaleza y se han iniciado procesos penales sobre personas involucradas en estas actividades.

Los enemigos de Cuba promueven informaciones distorsionadas que buscan empañar la imagen del país y presentarlo como cómplice de estas acciones, que rechazamos categóricamente.

Cuba tiene una firme y clara posición histórica en contra del mercenarismo y desempeña un papel activo en las Naciones Unidas en repudio de esa práctica, siendo autor de varias de las iniciativas que se aprueban en ese foro.

Cuba no forma parte del conflicto bélico en Ucrania. Está actuando y actuará de manera enérgica contra quien, desde el territorio nacional, participe en cualquier forma de trata de personas con fines de reclutamiento o mercenarismo para que ciudadanos cubanos hagan uso de las armas contra cualquier país.
La Habana, 4 de septiembre de 2023 (Cuba enfrenta operaciones de trata de personas con fines de reclutamiento militar)

Two points are worth making here.

Pix credit here

1. The first is that, as customary, the English and Spanish versions are not identical though they are very close. The differences suggest some different focus for quite different audiences. The Spanish language version underlined the Cuban position against fostering cultures of mercenaries, especially as state policy.  That might well have been a message directed at Cubans who now find themselves  forcibly conscripted in a state in which they were seeking economic opportunity.

2. Cuba is walking a tightrope. It does not want to be drawn into the Russian adventure and risk substantial deterioration of its relationship with the US and the EU. That the statement comes around the time of the renegotiation of Cuba's Paris Club debt may be especially telling. 

3. At the same time, the Cuba-Russia-Iran axis cannot be undermined. These are essential outlets for Cuban efforts to avoid catastrophe. For the moment the Russians are supporting the Cuban line that neither state was involved (see Moscow Times story here). And indeed, the need to blame (even if in the most indirect way) Wagner Group may serve Russia's interests here in demonizing that organization and its leader.

4.  Yet this trafficking can also put at risk the now decades long cultivation of Cuban programs to supply labor to many developing states--especially doctors and other medical personnel.  If it is now possible to begin to see Cuba exporting mercenaries as well as doctors, those non-military projects of human capital could be threatened.   

5. Any connection between the Cuban and Russian state apparatus respective the supply of Cuban soldiers in the Ukraine war might also expose Cuba to international actions as state accomplices of Russian aggression, and thus perhaps liable for gross breaches of international law as a conspirator or facilitator. 

6. Companies worried about complicity in human trafficking will now have to add additional protocols in conflict and ear zones respecting vulnerable people who may be subject to forced conscription--especially economic migrants.  The issue of private facilitation now becomes more complicated. That is particularly the case since the intimation is that a private (or non-state) criminal group is responsible.

7. As Cuba suggested, it is for the US and EU to make the next move. 

Reporting from Reuters follows, echoed for the most part by other press organs.

Cuba uncovers human trafficking of Cubans to fight for Russia in Ukraine

By Dave Sherwood and Marc Frank

September 5, 20238:17 PM GMT+1Updated 14 min ago

HAVANA, Sept 4 (Reuters) - Cuba has uncovered a human trafficking ring that coerced its citizens to fight for Russia in the war in Ukraine, its foreign ministry said, adding that Cuban authorities were working to "neutralize and dismantle" the network.

The statement from Cuba's foreign ministry late on Monday gave few details, but noted the trafficking ring was operating both within the Caribbean island nation, thousands of miles from Moscow, and in Russia.

 "The Ministry of the Interior... is working on the neutralization and dismantling of a human trafficking network that operates from Russia to incorporate Cuban citizens living there, and even some from Cuba, into the military forces participating in war operations in Ukraine," the Cuban government statement said.

Russia's defence ministry did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

 Russia last year announced a plan to boost the size of its armed forces by more than 30% to 1.5 million combat personnel, a lofty goal made harder by its heavy but undisclosed casualties in the war.

In late May, a Russia newspaper in Ryazan city reported that several Cuban citizens had signed contracts with Russia's armed forces and had been shipped to Ukraine in return for Russian citizenship.

It was not immediately clear if the Cuban foreign ministry statement was associated with the Ryazan report.