Interesting. The Castro regime has a long standing policy to lock up anyone testing positive for HIV.
One would think that would limit the spread, and therefore opportunity, for mutations.
The policy is more likely to result in Cuban homosexuals avoiding doctors and circumstances where they might be required to get tested.
I'm not surprised by this variant. As HIV spreads through the population, it will mutate.
It takes a long time for someone to actually show symptoms or be a suspect for HIV infection, in fact, people are asymptomatic usually for years. Combine that and the massive networking among those who spread the disease, and it’s hard to track down every infectee, even if you figure out who has it by a test.