Cuba acknowledges 32 deaths in U.S. military operation that seized Maduro
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Cuba acknowledged that 32 of its citizens, whom the government identified as members of the island’s armed forces and intelligence services, were killed during the US operation to capture Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro in Caracas, and declared two days of national mourning in their honor.
Havana did not specify The place where the personnel worked during the raid. But their deaths reopened scrutiny of years of reports and international investigations documenting Cuba’s deep and covert involvement in Venezuela’s military and intelligence structures.
Venezuelan political analyst Jorge Jraissati said Cuba’s intelligence role was critical in consolidating power, first under Hugo Chavez and later under Maduro. “Experts generally view Cuba as Venezuela’s most important provider of intelligence, including on issues such as holding elections, establishing diplomatic influence with other countries and keeping security forces in check,” he told Fox News Digital.
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Cubans hold the Venezuelan national flag along with the Cuban flag during a rally in support of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro in Havana on January 3, 2026, after US forces captured it. President Donald Trump said Saturday that U.S. forces had captured Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro after bombing the capital Caracas and other cities, in a dramatic climax to a months-long standoff between Trump and his Venezuelan nemesis. (Adalberto Roque/AFP via Getty Images)
Jraissati said any transition in Venezuela “will require the American government, in cooperation with the Venezuelan people, to work together to minimize the influence of the Cubans on the Venezuelan state apparatus and society in general.”
A. Reuters investigation The report, published in August 2019, revealed that two secret agreements signed in 2008 gave Cuba comprehensive access to Venezuela’s armed forces and intelligence services. Under those agreements, Cuban officials were given authority to train Venezuelan soldiers, restructure intelligence agencies and help establish an internal surveillance system focused on monitoring Venezuela’s own military, according to the report.
The investigation found that these arrangements played a central role in transforming Venezuela’s military counterintelligence agency – the Directorate General of Military Counterintelligence (DGCIM) – into a force designed to detect dissent, instill fear in the ranks and ensure loyalty to the government.
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Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro (R) greets Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel during the 23rd Bolivarian Alliance for the People of the Americas People’s Trade Agreement (ALBA-TCP) Summit at Miraflores Palace in Caracas, Venezuela, on Wednesday, April 24, 2024. An alliance of left-wing countries in the region is meeting to reject the reimposed US oil sanctions on Venezuela. Six-month reprieve to the Maduro regime.
The findings were later echoed by the United Nations Independent International Fact-Finding Mission, which reviewed the 2008 memorandum of understanding between Cuba and Venezuela. The UN mission said the agreement provides Cuba with advisory oversight in restructuring Venezuelan military intelligence, including the creation of new agencies, training of counterintelligence officers, and assistance with surveillance and infiltration techniques.
Quoted by former Venezuelan officials Havana Times and El Toque They described the deployment of Cuban advisers to some of the country’s most sensitive institutions, including civilian intelligence service SEBIN, DGCIM, the defense ministry, ports and airports, and Venezuela’s national identification system.
Human rights organizations and international researchers say these structures were central to the government’s response to mass protests by Venezuelan security forces in 2014 and 2017. widespread arrests and deadly crackdowns on demonstrators.
The UN fact-finding mission documented patterns of extrajudicial killings, arbitrary detention, and torture, and reported that Cuban advisers helped train Venezuelan personnel in methods used to track, interrogate, and suppress political opponents.
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Experts say Cuba’s admission that military and intelligence personnel were killed during the US operation in Venezuela has sharpened the focus on the true depth of the alliance and turned years of documentation into a pressing geopolitical issue.
