The regime always denied the presence of Cuban troops in Venezuela
14ymedio, Madrid, January 5, 2025 — Cuba declared official mourning at 6 a.m. this Monday and will remain in mourning until midnight on Tuesday for the 32 people killed in the US operation to arrest Nicolás Maduro on Saturday. The government, which had remained silent after comments by US President Donald Trump—”many Cubans lost their lives protecting Maduro”—reported the events through the Presidential X account.
“As a result of the criminal attack perpetrated by the United States Government against the sister Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, 32 Cubans lost their lives in combat actions,” reads the post, which links to a statement published in the State newspaper Granma.
The article reports that the deceased “were carrying out missions on behalf of the Revolutionary Armed Forces and the Ministry of the Interior, at the request of their counterparts in the South American country,” without explicitly stating that they were part of Maduro’s security detail. The presence of Cuban military personnel in Venezuela, confirmed by multiple sources over the past two decades, had been explicitly denied by Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez in statements made in 2019 and reiterated in several subsequent appearances.
“The accusation by the President of the United States that Cuba maintains a private army in Venezuela is outrageous. I urge him to present evidence.”
“The accusation by the President of the United States that Cuba maintains a private army in Venezuela is infamous. I urge him to present evidence. Our government rejects this slander in the strongest and most categorical terms,” the foreign minister responded to a comment made by Trump during his first term, prior to his claim that the Cuban personnel deployed in the country were entirely civilian, 94% of them working in the health sector.
The Cuban government now states that, having verified the identities of the deceased and informed their families, it is informing the public of what happened. “Faithful to their responsibilities for security and defense, our compatriots fulfilled their duty with dignity and heroism and fell, after fierce resistance, in direct combat against the attackers or as a result of the bombing of the facilities,” the statement reads.
This assertion contradicts statements from the US military high command, which described a lightning operation that took less than two minutes to capture Maduro and only five hours in total. The same sources indicate that there was little resistance from the security detail thanks to the element of surprise, and that the bodyguards of the president and his wife, Cilia Flores, did not have time to move them to a nearby fortified area designated for this type of emergency.
The families of the deceased have received “heartfelt condolences and support” from Army General Raúl Castro Ruz, leader of the Cuban Revolution, and from the first secretary of the Central Committee of the Party, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, as well as from the Ministries of the Interior and the Revolutionary Armed Forces.
“Victims of a new criminal act of aggression and state terrorism, the combatants, through their heroic actions, upheld the solidarity of millions of compatriots. The Revolutionary Government will organize the corresponding actions to pay them the tribute they deserve,” concludes the statement, which has been disseminated in the official media.
Díaz-Canel, who also shared the statement on his Twitter account, highlighted the content with the hashtag #HonorYGloria, adding that the victims “fell confronting terrorists in imperial uniforms, who kidnapped and illegally removed the president of Venezuela and his wife from their country, whose lives they were helping to protect at the request of that sister nation.” The message suggests that the government plans to claim the soldiers were recently on Venezuelan soil.
“I share the pain and outrage of our people and especially the loved ones of our courageous comrades. As I embrace their families and friends in this tragic hour, I reiterate my deep affection, admiration, and pride for them and their heroic conduct,” the statement concludes.
“The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela pays tribute to the 32 Cuban combatants who gave their lives fulfilling their duty.”
Venezuela has also issued a communication thanking Cuba for its support “within the framework of cooperation between sovereign states and [the deceased] were carrying out institutional protection and defense tasks.”
“The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela pays tribute to the 32 Cuban combatants who gave their lives fulfilling their duty,” the document says, praising the deceased for acting with “courage, discipline and unwavering commitment to peace and regional stability.”
The statement also expresses “deep solidarity” with the Cuban government and personalizes its gratitude to Raúl Castro and Díaz-Canel, while extending “a fraternal embrace to the Revolutionary Armed Forces and the families of the fallen combatants, whose sacrifice strengthens the historical bonds of brotherhood, sovereignty and shared struggle between our nations.”
The total number of deaths in the operation, according to The New York Times , which cites Venezuelan sources, amounts to 80 people, while Washington officials told the newspaper that there are half a dozen wounded US soldiers, although Trump did not want to confirm the numbers.
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