Under the communist Castro dictatorship, young Cubans are forced into military service to defend the socialist revolution. If they try to avoid it, a new penal code calls for up to 5 years in the gulag. This is socialism in action.
Via Periodico Cubano (my translation):
New law calls for up to 5 years in prison for Cubans who evade military service
The National Assembly of People’s Power published on its website the draft of the Military Penal Code, which according to the legislative schedule will soon be approved with the communist system’s usual unanimous vote.
These regulations include several modifications to existing laws, making military convictions more severe. For instance, under the section “Offenses against the fulfillment of military service obligations,” a prison sentence of two to five years is stipulated for “anyone who, with the intention of permanently evading military service, abandons the unit or place where they are serving or fails to present themselves when required.”
On the other hand, Article 42.1 states that in the case of unauthorized or unjustified absence for a period of 15 days or more, the individual will be sanctioned with six months to one year of imprisonment.
The text of the law explains that “if the absent person voluntarily presents themselves before 20 days have passed since their absence, the minimum limit of the sanction will be reduced by one-third and the maximum by one-fourth.”
However, for those who are repeat offenders on two or more occasions, being absent for a period of more than seven days but less than fifteen within a three-month period, and have been subject to disciplinary measures for these infractions, they will also be subject to up to one year of imprisonment.
An aggravating factor that will result in the maximum penalty is to be absent from military service in “exceptional situations, disasters, and high or complete combat readiness.”
Other penalties provided include up to two years in prison for those who, in order to avoid military service, pretend to have an illness. “Anyone who intentionally self-inflicts an injury, contracts any disease, falsifies medical documents, or uses other deception or artifice to evade their military service obligations will face a penalty of six months to two years of imprisonment.”
According to the official portal Cubadebate, the drafting of the Military Penal Code has been underway since November 2021, with representatives from the Supreme People’s Court, the Attorney General’s Office, the Military Prosecutor’s Office, the Ministries of Revolutionary Armed Forces, Interior and Justice, the National Organization of Collective Law Firms, and the universities of Havana and the Military Sciences.
All agree that it is essential to have a new Military Penal Code “in order to achieve greater effectiveness and efficiency in preventing and combating crime in the context of military service provision.”