The recent American military operation in Venezuela killed 32 Cuban officers, the Cuban government said Sunday, offering the first official death toll from U.S. strikes in the South American country.
The Cuban military and police officers were on a mission the Caribbean country’s military was carrying out at the request of Venezuela’s government, according to a statement read on Cuban state TV on Sunday night.
What the Cubans were working on in the South American nation was unclear, but Cuba is a close ally of Venezuela’s government and has sent military and police forces to assist in operations for years. Rumors of the deaths circulated on the island over the weekend.
"You know, a lot of Cubans were killed yesterday," U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One as he flew Sunday night from Florida back to Washington. "There was a lot of death on the other side. No death on our side."
The U.S. operation Saturday seized Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife to face prosecution on an indictment accusing them of participating in an alleged narco-terrorism conspiracy.
While Venezuela's government has acknowledged that several people died in the American blasts, they did not confirm how many were killed to The Associated Press.
Cuba’s government announced two days of mourning for the Cuban officers who were killed, and former president and revolutionary leader Raul Castro and President Miguel Diaz-Canel sent condolences to their families. The names of the dead and the positions they held were not immediately disclosed by the Cuban authorities.
"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 bombings of the facilities," the official statement said.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants, also pointed to Cuban involvement in Venezuela over the weekend, saying that Maduro's internal security apparatus was headed by Cubans and that they were "propping up Maduro."
"All the guards that help protect Maduro – this is well known – their whole spy agency, all that were full of Cubans," Rubio said.
