Key points
- Deaths linked to US Caracas attack
- Cubans served in security missions
- Havana declares national mourning
HAVANA, Cuba: The Cuban government has confirmed that 32 Cuban nationals were killed during a U.S. military operation in Caracas that resulted in the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
The victims, members of Cuba’s Revolutionary Armed Forces and Ministry of the Interior, were serving in security missions at the request of Venezuelan authorities. Havana has declared two days of national mourning and pledged to honor the fallen.
“As a result of the criminal attack carried out by the government of the United States” against Venezuela, “32 Cubans lost their lives in combat operations,” the Cuban government said in a statement read on national television, reports AFP.
The deceased were members of Cuba’s Revolutionary Armed Forces or the Ministry of the Interior who were carrying out missions “at the request of counterpart agencies,” Cuban officials said.
US military operation
In a stunning US military operation Saturday, Maduro was extracted from Caracas along with his wife, Cilia Flores, to face charges of drug trafficking and terrorism in a New York court Monday.
The official Cuban statement stressed that the soldiers had “fulfilled their duty with dignity and heroism and fell, after fierce resistance, in direct combat against the attackers or as a result of the bombings” carried out by the United States.
Havana has declared two days of national mourning beginning at dawn Monday, and pledged to organize tributes.
“Honour and glory to the brave Cuban fighters who fell facing terrorists in imperial uniform,” President Miguel Diaz-Canel wrote on X.
