Madrid/At least five young people remain in serious condition after an accident that occurred this Monday in Artemisa, when a truck was transporting more than twenty boys who were returning from a pass to the 1270 military unit, known as Lombillo, where they carry out the pre-Active Military Service. In the accident, a 51-year-old adult, the father of a soldier, died, who according to different information arrived with serious injuries – head trauma – at the Calixto García Hospital.
The accident, which left four other adults injured, including the driver, occurred on Monday on the Vereda highway towards San Antonio de los Baños, after 8 in the morning. The official press has confirmed that “the driver lost control of the vehicle,” but the reasons that triggered a rollover that left the truck falling to its left side among the vegetation are unknown.
According to some testimonies, the group came from Bahía Honda and, after having spent the weekend in their town of residence, they returned to continue their training.
According to some testimonies, the group came from Bahía Honda and, after having spent the weekend in their town of residence, they returned to continue their training. The preview usually lasts several weeks in which the recruits adapt to the SMA. The most common thing is that it is carried out around the age of 17 and usually has a strong impact on young people, who leave their homes for the first time to join military discipline, including guards and patrols, basic physical and weapons training.
The injured were first sent to the Iván Portuondo General Teaching Hospital, in San Antonio de los Baños. About twenty unharmed people remained under observation there, but the most serious cases were transferred, some of them – the official press mentions – to Juan Manuel Márquez in Havana. Although it is not mentioned in the information, this center is a pediatric hospital, which highlights the youth of some of the seriously injured.
“Speed recovery for those children. How much pain for those relatives, I have no words. I could see with what joy they went on a pass, their first pass, with all the relatives outside the unit waiting to pick up their son,” said a user on the networks. “Every day there are more losses of young people in military service. I am one of those mothers who today has a son who entered the pass in that same unit and to see this news…”, she lamented.
The animosity of Cubans towards the SMA – or the possibilities of expressing rejection of it – has been increasing over the years. The strict control of information by the Government and the Armed Forces had allowed the crimes to be kept more hidden. death cases in compliance with this duty and there are no official public figures in this regard. However, the independent press and the work of organizations such as Archivo Cuba have managed to make this reality visible.
Several cases of deaths by suicide have been documented, in addition to many others due to improper handling of weapons, negligence or poor conditions of equipment.
Several cases of deaths by suicide have been documented, in addition to many others due to improper handling of weapons, negligence or poor conditions of equipment, including those who died in the fire of the Matanzas Supertankers, in August 2022.
The rejection generated by the SMA was evident last March, when unidentified people they set fire to the recruitment office of the Municipal Military Committee in the Contramaestre municipality, of Santiago de Cuba, according to sources collected by the media Martí Noticias.
Despite repeated reported abuses, military service in Cuba remains mandatory for young men and voluntary for women, although the latter are the subject of an intense official recruitment campaign.
The State supports this policy on the idea of a defense against alleged aggressions of “imperialism” and this speech has intensified in the last year, with the increase in tensions with the United States.
