Instead, he and a friend were outfitted with weapons and sent against their will to the front lines of a war they never intended to join. "Please, please help get us out of here," Vegas Díaz said in an Aug. 31 video.
The plea for help went viral. Similar stories began to surface, as Cubans sought information about family members who had also flown to Moscow to join the Russian military. The outcry prompted the Cuban government to issue a striking allegation: a "human-trafficking network" operating out of Russia was luring young Cubans to enlist to fight in Ukraine. On Sept. 8, Cuban officials said they had arrested 17 people in connection with the alleged trafficking scheme.
But social media posts, audio messages, and videos from recruits in Russia reviewed by TIME, along with interviews with family members and documents obtained by a Ukrainian hacker group, combine to tell a very different story. They indicate that Vegas Díaz became caught up in an organized operation that has openly recruited hundreds of Cuban volunteers to fight in Moscow's depleted army.
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة October 09, 2023 من Time.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 8500 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك ? تسجيل الدخول
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة October 09, 2023 من Time.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 8500 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
As employers embrace Al, workers fret-and seek input
THE SWEDISH BUY-NOW-PAY-LATER COMPANY KLARNA has become something of a poster child for the potential benefits of generative artificial intelligence.
Claudia Sheinbaum
A first for Mexico
Afghan women defying the Taliban
WHEN KABUL FELL TO THE TALIBAN, RETURNING Afghanistan to the fundamentalist group's control, women who did not flee faced a reality in which they could no longer be who they are: journalists deleted evidence of their work, artists destroyed their creations, and graduates set fire to their degrees.
The way to a truly restful vacation
TRAVEL CAN DO WONDERS FOR YOUR well-being: expanding your mind, bonding you to loved ones, and connecting you with nature.
SHARING GRIEF AMID WAR
Spring and early summer are difficult times for both Israelis and Palestinians. Israeli Jews move from Passover, the holiday of freedom, to Holocaust Memorial Day, to Memorial Day for Fallen Soldiers and Victims of Terror, to the triumphant celebrations of Independence Day. The days pass with rituals intended to give us a shared meaning as a society and to inculcate and frame Israel's official narrative.
WESTWARD HO, AGAIN
Kevin Costner's risky western epic, Horizon, celebrates the height of the genre without quite getting there itself
DO LESS. IT'S GOOD FOR YOU
Unproductive moments can boost health and happiness
'I don't have faith in doctors anymore!'
How women get pressured into long-term birth control
Strait Talk
TAIWAN'S NEW PRESIDENT LAI CHING-TE IS TAKING A HARD LINE ON CHINA. BEIJING IS NOT AMUSED
How U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo is navigating America's AI future
UNTIL MID-2023, ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE was something of a niche topic in Washington, largely confined to small circles of tech-policy wonks.
