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Mother of a conscript who died in 2025 again demands answers from Cuba's armed forces
Mercedes Roque Rodríguez rejects the official account of the death of her 18-year-old son at Military Unit 5050 in Havana and is filing a new complaint, according to Infobae. The case was provisionally shelved in July.
Antonio Alejandro Rassi Roque, 18, died on 18 August 2025 inside Military Unit 5050, known as El Calvario, in Havana, while serving compulsory military service. His mother, Mercedes Roque Rodríguez, maintains that he was subjected to pressure and psychological mistreatment before his death and rejects the official account which, she says, described it as a «decision of his own».
In a recent post, Roque addressed her questions to the minister of the Revolutionary Armed Forces, Álvaro López Miera. She held First Lieutenant Aldo Fábregas Ardiles responsible and asked for explanations about the conduct of the major in charge of the unit when her son entered service. This is the mother's accusation: no judicial charges are on record against any of the officers named.
The young man had entered the unit 21 days before his death. His mother says that during that period she noticed changes in his emotional state, trouble sleeping and disorientation, and that he was threatened with transfer to a punishment unit and given a penalty of 49 days without leave. For the family, those measures bore on the outcome.
Their last contact came at 8:55 on 18 August 2025, when he told her he was about to start a guard shift; he died at 14:45, by his mother's account. The case was provisionally shelved on 2 July 2026, a decision that allows it to be reopened if new evidence emerges, with no charges reported. In October, Roque said a meeting with ministry representatives did not include the officers whose presence she had requested.
The case comes alongside fresh questions about deaths of young men in active military service. An investigation published in September by elTOQUE, cited by Infobae, documented at least 89 deaths of conscripts between 2017 and 2026: 33 classified as accidents and 31 as suicides, together 64 cases, 72% of the total. Of 46 families consulted, only eight said there had been an official investigation, and none considered that its outcome clarified the circumstances.
Sources: Infobae
Data updated: 2026-11-03T16:15:00.000Z