Mexicans fighting in Ukraine?

I sometimes watch “HistoryLegends”… featuring a guy named Alexandre (with some sort of European accent) who only claims his “dedication to history and facts is unmatched”. He seems about as legitimate as any outside commentator, though I give him credit for not taking any statement by any of the parties involved at face value. Whether he leans towards the Russians, or it’s just that he has assumed they aregoing to eventually prevail (to what end?) I’m not sure. Like anything by anyone that’s said about this conflict, even the guy who doesn’t take what information he has at face value, probably can’t be taken as gospel either.

That said,, in a very short “update” he claims that 3% of Mexican volunteer soldiers in the conflict have been killed. In another video, he discusses the thorny question of how foreign volunteers are counted, how many there actually are, and whether or not the numbers are not inflated by both Ukraine and Russia for different reasons (Ukraine to bolster the claim of massive foreign support for them; Russia, to downplay some embarassing battlefield setbacks).

My first question is the obvious one… 3% of how many? One out of 33, or 30 out of a thousand… or …? Alexandre noted there are no clear numbers on foreign fighters, there is even less (or less I can find in a not very intensive google search) of any Mexicans… other than the mention of one in a New York Times article (“Why Some Foreign Volunteers Are Joining the Military in Ukraine“), and that from 4 April 2022. The few other scattered references (all from early 2022) either mention the same Mexican, or just claim there are Mexicans among the various foreign volunteers. And, for what it’s worth, the Secrtariat of Foreign Affairs … in reference to a claim in the Kyiv Independent that Mexicans are among the foreign troops… that they are unaware of any. That too early 2022.

I wouldn’t doubt there are a few… there were Mexicans who have joined the US military in recent conflicts for various reaons… adventure seekers, or… like Luis in the New York Times article … a former Mexican miliary who never fought in a foreign war (Mexican’s last … and the only one outside the country ending in 1945), having found some moral calling to join the fray… or — and this I can easily see — far right wing Mexicans, atrracted by the claims by some Ukrainian nationalists, that they are fighting to defend “western, Christian values”. Gangsters and wannabe terrorists have also been known to seek combat training in order to hone skills useful to less than honorable activites than defending a homeland or some national values, and I can imagine any war is going to attract a few of those kind.

But how many? With Mexico staying strictly neutral and other than opening its doors to war refugees and offering to negotiate, or support a negotiated settlement… there is no incentive for any official supprt to either side in the conflict.