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One of the Cuban dictatorship’s leading means of forced labor exploitation has for decades been the compulsory military service. It violates the Protocol on Trafficking in Persons and other international accords, forces minors --under 18-- to serve, and now delivers Cubans to kill Ukrainians in the invasion of their homeland.

Cuba has a large captive pool of men with military training or seeking to avoid their country’s harsh compulsory service who are forbidden from leaving the country unless so authorized. Desperate to escape poverty and hopelessness, hundreds are enlisting as mercenaries for Russia. They risk their lives for around $26,000 a year, a ticket out of Cuba, and a few other benefits while Cuba’s bankrupt regime secures more oil, food, and perhaps a commission from Russia.
 
For decades, Cuba’s compulsory military service has exploited young men as forced labor and subjected them to deplorable conditions. Many commit suicide, harm themselves seeking a discharge, die in senseless accidents, or end up in prison for deserting or dead in mysterious circumstances. Cuba Archive has documented 20 non-combat fatalities just in 2022 and 2023, including 2 minors.
 
The Cuban regime has long rented out its citizens for senseless combats in faraway lands. The Castro brothers forced 377,000 to serve in the Angola war (1975-1991), most for three years, earning billions collecting $1,000 per month per soldier, who were, in turn, paid just $8 to $17 a year. At least 2,085 were killed, and many thousands returned mutilated, traumatized, and mentally ill.
 
[ See the article in Global Americans based on Cuba Archive’s in-depth report. ]

Nigeria surely heaved a heavy sigh of relief with the affirmation of the election of President Bola Tinubu by the Supreme Court …

Abuja, Oct.31.– Our country surely heaved a heavy sigh of relief with the affirmation of the election of President Bola Tinubu by the Supreme Court of Nigeria on October 26. The tension has gone the way of a pierced balloon; the anxiety on his part and on the part of his challengers, has similarly evaporated, leaving the victor to savor his victory and the losers to bite their nails, wondering what is left of their war chest. It is life imitating life, of course.

All the drama has ended. The swords, I should hope, have been sheathed; the tsunami of public sentiments has been downgraded to a cool flood; the lucky lawyers have put their law books back on the shelves and are doing what comes naturally to the suddenly loaded, to wit, laugh all the way to the banks.

• The new Speaker aims to complete the appropriations process in the next 23 days, which will test his ability to maintain the fragile unity of House Republicans.
• He is a policy-oriented constitutionalist considered by his peers as a principled conservative.

Washington DC, Oct. 25 (DP.net).– Mike Johnson is a four-term conservative who represents Louisiana's fourth congressional district, which includes nearly 760,000 residents. Johnson won the congressional seat with the largest margin of victory in his region in more than 50 years. He previously served in the Louisiana Legislature from February 2015 to January 2017.

With two decades of previous experience in Constitutional law, he serves on the House Judiciary Committee and on the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government. 

Johnson is widely viewed as a policy-oriented and principled conservative. He is a vocal opponent of gay marriage and a supporter of bans on abortion. He typically votes in line with his Republican colleagues and has a 92% rating from the American Conservative Union and 90% from Heritage Action.

• It is widely expected that Israel’s ground assault on Gaza will begin in the near future.

Tel Aviv, Oct. 14.– Israel’s war against Hamas has entered its eighth day, a week after the merciless assault by Hamas that left over 1,300 Israelis slain and at least 3,300 wounded. In the Gaza Strip, where 2,215 Palestinians have reportedly been killed since the war began, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad are holding hostage more than 150 soldiers and civilians, including foreign nationals.

The U.S. is leading international efforts to organize humanitarian aid to Gaza and the evacuation of the wounded. Israel continues airstrikes as well as trading sporadic fire with Hezbollah forces in the country’s north.