Cuba’s communist Castro regime on Sunday decreed a two-day period of mourning to “honor” 32 Cuban military officials allegedly killed during the U.S. law enforcement action in Caracas that resulted in the capture of Venezuelan socialist dictator Nicolás Maduro.
Granma, the official newspaper of the Communist Party of Cuba, claimed that the 32 allegedly slain Cuban were “carrying out missions on behalf of the Revolutionary Armed Forces and the Ministry of the Interior, at the request of counterpart agencies in the South American country” at the time the U.S. military launched its operation to capture Maduro on Saturday.
“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,” Granma wrote.
As per the terms of the terms a decree signed by the figurehead “president” of Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel, the mourning period will run from 06:00 a.m. (local time) on Monday, January 5 and will run through until the end of Tuesday, January 6. Díaz-Canel claimed that the Cuban soldiers were “helping” protect Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores.
“Honor and glory to the brave Cuban combatants who fell fighting terrorists in imperial uniforms, who kidnapped and illegally removed the President of Venezuela and his wife from their country, whose lives we were helping to protect at the request of that sister nation,” Díaz-Canel claimed through social media on Sunday.
For decades, the Castro regime has had a significant influence in Venezuela under the auspices of Nicolás Maduro and his predecessor, Hugo Chávez. Numerous reports published over the years revealed how the Castro regime aided its fellow ideological ally reshape Venezuela’s security and intelligence services to implement a brutally repressive apparatus.
President Donald Trump referred to Cuban casualties during the U.S. operation to capture Maduro in remarks given to The New York Post over the weekend, but reportedly said he did not know the precise death toll among Cuban and Venezuelan forces.
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“Cuba was always very reliant on Venezuela. That’s where they got their money, and they protected Venezuela, but that didn’t work out too well in this case,” President Trump told The New York Post.
“You know, many Cubans lost their lives last night. Did you know that? Many Cubans lost their lives. They were protecting Maduro. That was not a good move,” he continued.
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