Cuba is in danger of collapse as Venezuelan oil dries up
Joseph Hernandez, a Cuban immigrant and candidate for New York comptroller, shares his family’s experiences fleeing communist Cuba and discusses the country’s uncertain future after Maduro’s conquest, highlighting Venezuela’s oil dependence.
Cuba’s official mouthpiece for the ruling communist party confirmed Tuesday that 32 members of the armed forces were killed during the US military operation to capture former Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro.
According to a government statement, the 32 soldiers and police officers were part of a mission carried out at the request of the Venezuelan government. On Tuesday, Cuba announced their names, ranks and ages.
“Victims of a new criminal act of aggression and state terrorism committed against the Bolivarian sister republic of Venezuela by the United States, 32 Cubans lost their lives during combat actions and after fierce resistance,” said a statement published by Granma, the official newspaper of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba.
“They carried out missions representing the Revolutionary Armed Forces and the Ministry of the Interior at the request of counterparts in the South American country.”
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Cubans hold a Venezuelan national flag with a Cuban flag during a rally in support of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro in Havana on January 3, after US forces captured him. (Adalberto Roque/AFP via Getty Images)
Cuba announced two days of mourning.
The dead included colonels, lieutenants, majors and captains and some reserve soldiers ranging in age from 26 to 60, The Associated Press reported.
They belonged to the Revolutionary Armed Forces and the Ministry of the Interior, Cuba’s two main security services. The publication did not specify their missions or reveal how they died.
In a message on
“The American President, who shows absolute ignorance about Cuba and repeats the agenda of lies of Cuban-American politicians and other interest groups, slanders and threatens our people,” Rodríguez wrote. “Our brave people, true to its history of struggle, will defend its nation against any imperialist aggression.
RUBIO TO CUBA: ‘I WOULD BE CONCERNED’ AFTER US MILITARY ARRESTS OF VENEZELAN LEADER MADURO
Workers flew the Cuban flag at half-mast on Monday at the Anti-Imperialist Stand near the U.S. Embassy in Havana in memory of the Cubans who died two days earlier in Caracas, Venezuela, during the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro by U.S. forces. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
“In his words, he abandons, with all intents and purposes, any reference to his criminal policies of economic suffocation and warfare, which have been further intensified, against Cuba, which is causing damage and despair to Cuban families,” he added, apparently referring to President Donald Trump.
The Trump administration has said Cuban officials were part of Maduro’s security detail. Cuba and Venezuela have grown closer in recent years, with Cuban agents becoming a major presence in the South American nation.
“You know, a lot of Cubans were killed yesterday,” President Donald Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday evening. “There was a lot of death on the other side. No death on our side.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants and a fierce critic of Cuba’s communist government, said Venezuela’s spy agency was “basically full of Cubans.”
Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel attends a rally in Havana, Cuba, on Saturday, January 3, 2026, in solidarity with Venezuela after the US captured President Nicolás Maduro and flew him out of Venezuela. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
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“One of the biggest problems that Venezuelans have is that they have to declare their independence from Cuba,” he said at a news conference where officials revealed details of the military operation to capture Maduro and his wife. “They were basically trying to colonize it from a security perspective.”
