Cuba published details on Tuesday of 32 Cuban military personnel it said were killed during the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro by U.S. forces, and the Cuban government announced two days of mourning starting the same day.
The Cuban government and state media released the names, ranks and ages of the personnel, including colonels, lieutenants, majors and captains, as well as some reserve soldiers. Cuba said the group ranged in age from 26 to 60, and that they belonged to the Revolutionary Armed Forces and Cuba’s Ministry of the Interior. The release did not specify their missions or exactly how they died, but it included headshots showing them in olive-green military uniforms.
Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez said Cuba’s position was unchanged as the island pondered a future without Maduro. Rodríguez wrote on X that the U.S. president was repeating what he called “the agenda of lies of Cuban-American politicians and other interest groups” while “blasphem[ing] against and threaten[ing] our people,” and he also wrote that Cubans were “prepared to give their lives” against any U.S. intervention. Rodríguez added: “Our valiant people, true to their history of struggle, will defend their nation against any imperialist aggression.”
The Cuban authorities had acknowledged the deaths in a statement Sunday, saying the personnel were killed as part of agreements between Cuba and Venezuela. In that statement, Cuban authorities said the personnel “fulfilled their duty with dignity and heroism, falling after fierce resistance in direct combat against the attackers, or as a result of the bombing of the facilities.”
Information about the deaths began circulating publicly on Monday night, according to the report, with Cubans posting that they had died for a just cause. Luis Domínguez, who runs the website Represores Cubanos, said people in Cuba were speaking publicly in ways aligned with the government narrative. “Inside, Cubans have to be saying something else,” Domínguez said, commenting on what he suggested privately differed from the official line.
Domínguez also said he believed one of the deceased, 67-year-old Col. Humberto Alfonso Roca Sánchez, had been the garrison commander of Punto Cero, where Fidel Castro once lived. He said another officer listed among the dead, 62-year-old Col. Lázaro Evangelio Rodríguez Rodríguez, is believed to have overseen Cuba’s coast and border guards.
The report noted that Cuba and Venezuela have long-standing agreements as political and economic allies, including the sale of subsidized oil to the island since 2000, though the extent of military or advisory exchanges has rarely been detailed publicly.
An independent opposition blog, La Joven Cuba, posted a profile of 1st Lt. Yunio Estévez on Monday that included family photos and life details. The profile said Estévez, identified as a communications expert in charge of a personal security department, was shot during the attack, and the site said the post was removed later that evening at the family’s request.
The U.S. strike prompted a diplomatic response Tuesday in Washington, where the Organization of American States held a special meeting and protesters denounced the action. During the meeting, a protester interrupted U.S. Ambassador Leandro Rizzuto’s speech; Medea Benjamin, a co-founder of the anti-war nonprofit Code Pink, cried out: “The majority of people are against this!” and “Hands off Venezuela!”
OAS officials called for security guards, who led Benjamin out of the room, and Rizzuto resumed his speech afterward. Rizzuto said he understood “there are many raw emotions,” and he described the strike as a “targeted law enforcement action” against an “indicted criminal.”
Rizzuto also said the U.S. did not invade Venezuela, saying: “Let me be clear, the U.S. did not invade Venezuela,” and he added that President Trump offered Maduro multiple offramps. Rizzuto said the U.S. aimed to remove what he described as an obstacle and said it wanted a “better and democratic future for Venezuela,” arguing that Venezuela’s people lacked electricity and faced a substandard quality of life. He also said Venezuela’s profits are stolen by “a handful of oligarchs around the world, including those inside of Venezuela.”
Rizzuto called for the release of an estimated 1,000 political prisoners and said the U.S. supports a request from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to visit a detention center in person. After he spoke, Peruvian Ambassador Rodolfo Coronado called for a minute of silence for the victims of Maduro’s regime.
Representatives of several countries condemned the U.S. strike during the meeting. Colombia’s vice minister of foreign relations, Mauricio Jaramillo, said he viewed the action as an attack on Venezuela’s sovereignty and characterized it as “a clear violation of international law” that set “an extremely worrying” precedent.
Before the special OAS meeting began, about a dozen protesters gathered outside holding signs reading “No war on Venezuela” and “Arepas Not Bombs.”