Nine are young military service recruits, most of them from that eastern province
14ymedio, Havana, 9 January 2025 — The life stories of the 13 missing soldiers begin to emerge with the testimonies of relatives and the scraps of their biographies found on social networks. The nine young people, apparently all recruits of the Active Military Service (SMA), include a fan of Japanese cartoons, a future chef and a young father. Most are residents near the Melones base or in other Holguin municipalities.
For example, Brian Rojas Long lives in the community of Esterito, in the municipality of Banes. His aunt, Norma Rojas, said that he had recently been on a pass at home and that he had only eight months left to finish his service. His father, Lázaro, said the young man is very excited because he has been assigned to work in a hotel on the Ramón de Antilla peninsula as a chef’s assistant. “I like that,” he told his aunt during the family visit.
There is also Yunior Hernández Rojas, originally from Holguín and father of a baby, who has been with his current partner since 2018. Rayme Rojas Rojas, 20, likes animated Japanese cartoons. In November 2023, he was seen on social networks wearing the recruit uniform. He had only six months left to complete his time as a soldier.
Some relatives have appealed to social networks in search of answers
Among the youngest, there is José Carlos Guerrero Garcia, 19, also in the SMA, son of Julio Guerrero and a resident in the municipality of Rafael Freyre. Frank Antonio Hidalgo Almaguer is a resident of the municipality of San Andrés and is currently single. Lander José García Oliva is also from that same community, hard hit at the moment by uncertainty.
Some relatives have appealed to social networks in search of answers. A cousin of Leinier Jorge Sánchez, 18, made a desperate request on Facebook for the young man to appear alive. Yilena Roche Arcaya defined him as “one of the children who is missing in the explosion.” The young man also lives in Rafael Freyre, the municipality most marked by the tragedy. There are hardly any details about the others; Héctor Adrián Batista, another recruit, is only known to be from Las Tunas.
Among the missing officers are Major Carlos Carreño, a native of Santiago de Cuba, married and with a son, and a second non-commissioned officer, Orlebanis Tamé Torres, who has a military rank. Another is Yoennis Pérez Durán, a graduate of electrical engineering, who obtained his diploma in Moa at the Dr. Antonio Núñez Jiménez Higher Mining Metallurgical Institute in 2009. He is a follower of the Real Madrid football team.
Major Leonar Palma Matos studied at Juan José Fornet Piña de Holguín’s basic high school and has a son. Although he keeps his Facebook profile restricted, several of his childhood friends have left messages of sadness in other groups for what happened.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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