Havana/The official press confirmed this Wednesday the suicide of Leandro Muñoz Zamora, a 20-year-old recruit residing in Santa Clara who was being transferred to Matanzas to continue his Mandatory Military Service there. According to a publication by state radio station CMHW, the young man jumped from the window of a bus belonging to the Matanzas Military Construction Company on the morning of June 12.
The brief statement states that the young man was traveling with 11 other soldiers and three civilians, in addition to the driver of the vehicle, towards the capital of Matanzas, “where he would continue his mission as part of Active Military Service.” Muñoz Zamora threw himself from the bus around 10 in the morning, when they were crossing kilometer 254 of the National Highway.
“Authorities of the Party, the Government, the Revolutionary Armed Forces and the Ministry of the Interior went to the scene immediately. The young man died instantly as a result of the impact against the pavement. At the close of this information, the causes of the incident are being investigated,” the statement concludes.
The note omits explanations on several key points, such as the final unit to which Muñoz Zamora was assigned and the reason for his transfer. One of the most severe military bases on the Island is located in Matanzas, Fines, in the municipality of Cárdenas. It is common for recruits who have committed indiscipline to be transferred to Fines, although CMHW motivated the young man’s relocation.
The note omits explanations on several key points, such as the final unit to which Muñoz Zamora was destined
Suicides during Military Service are one of the best kept secrets of the Cuban Army, although many cases have been known, the majority caused by the depression of the recruits due to the conditions of their military unit and the distance from their family environment and social.
In May 2023, Maikol Arcia Hernández, 18, committed suicide with a weapon in Military Unit 6244 of San José de las Lajas, in Mayabeque. A publication by his grandfather after the event clarified that Arcia had mental problems, something that was not taken into account when he was recruited and that the unit authorities had been expressly asked not to allow him to handle weapons. The young man had expressed his intention to commit suicide days before, but when the family alerted the unit, the captain in charge took it as Arcia’s “spoilts,” the relative said.
In Havana, according to what a former recruit told this newspaper, it was common for those who spent their Military Service in the La Cabaña unit, in Casablanca, to throw themselves from the famous statue of Christ to cause injuries that would allow them to be discharged. In 1983, former soldier Adrián González told this newspaper, one of his friends rushed from the image shouting: “I am Superman!” The fall was 20 meters.
Another young man, also in the 80s, stole a rifle from the arsenal and shot himself in the head. Although they blamed it on “family problems”
Another young man, also in the 80s, stole a rifle from the arsenal and shot himself in the head. Although they blamed it on “family problems,” explains González, his colleagues knew that in reality he had not been able to “adapt” and, out of desperation, he committed suicide.
A recent study by the organization Archivo Cuba described Cuban military service as “human trafficking with a lethal cost” that has cost the lives of at least 54 young people since its establishment by Law No. 1,129, of November 26, 1963. (that could have been documented). Only the Island and North Korea force minors under 18 years of age to train in Armed Forces facilities, with training with strong ideological overtones that underlines the need for blind obedience to the regime.
The causes of death recorded by the Cuba Archive are several: suicides, negligence by superior officers, medical neglect, imprudent orders – such as the young recruits who died at the Matanzas Supertanker Base –, disappearances and deaths in unclear conditions.
