Cuba Confirms 32 of Its Citizens Slain During U.S. Raid on Venezuela

The Cuban government issued a scathing condemnation of the United States on Sunday, revealing that 32 of its nationals were killed during the high-stakes military operation that successfully extracted Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro from Caracas.

In a statement broadcast across the island on national television, Havana identified the casualties not as civilians, but as elite members of Cuba’s Revolutionary Armed Forces and the Ministry of the Interior. These personnel were stationed in Venezuela on high-level missions “at the request of counterpart agencies,” according to Cuban officials.

The fatalities occurred during the early hours of Saturday as U.S. special operations forces launched a multi-pronged assault on the Venezuelan capital. The raid, which resulted in Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, being flown to the U.S. to face drug trafficking and terrorism charges, reportedly met stiff resistance from Cuban-backed security cordons.

The official Cuban statement lauded the fallen as martyrs who died defending a sovereign ally:

“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 government declared.

The statement further emphasized 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” orchestrated by Washington.

In response to the loss, Havana has declared two days of national mourning starting Monday at dawn. The Cuban leadership has characterized the U.S. military as an “imperialist aggressor,” framing the conflict as a struggle between Caribbean sovereignty and American hegemony.

Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel took to social media to pay his respects to the deceased, using the platform to escalate the diplomatic war of words with the Trump administration.

“Honor and glory to the brave Cuban fighters who fell facing terrorists in imperial uniform,” Díaz-Canel wrote on X.

The admission that over thirty Cuban military and interior ministry personnel were on the ground in Caracas provides a rare glimpse into the depth of the security alliance between Havana and the Maduro regime.

While Maduro is prepared for a court appearance in New York this Monday, the fallout in the Caribbean continues to intensify. Havana has pledged to organize massive state tributes for the fallen soldiers, signaling that while Maduro has been captured, the ideological and military defiance of the “Bolivarian” alliance remains intact.