32 Cuban officers killed in Venezuela repatriated as US tensions escalate

A solemn atmosphere gripped Havana ’s airport on Thursday as white-gloved Cuban soldiers carried urns containing the remains of 32 officers killed during a US raid in Venezuela earlier this month. Thousands of Cubans braved heavy rain to line the streets, saluting or placing hands over their hearts as the urns were marched into the Ministry of the Armed Forces .

The officers, aged 26 to 60, were part of security agreements between Cuba and Venezuela , serving in the protection detail of President Nicolás Maduro during the January 3 operation aimed at seizing him for alleged drug trafficking charges in the US. Cuban officials said the personnel fell in direct combat or from bombings during the raid, describing their deaths as heroic resistance against what Havana calls US imperialism .

A military aircraft carrying the urns was Cuban, and it flew the remains of the 32 Cuban military officers from Venezuela , where they were killed during a U.S. military operation, into Havana, Cuba . There, the urns were placed alongside photographs of the fallen at a solemn ceremony. Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel and former President Raúl Castro attended as Cuban Interior Minister Lázaro Alberto Álvarez Casas hailed the officers as “heroes of an anti-imperialist struggle spanning Cuba and Venezuela.” Analysts and former diplomats, including Carlos Alzugaray, said Cubans consider the soldiers “martyrs” in a historic struggle against the United States, even though the deaths occurred on foreign soil while the troops were serving in Venezuela under a security agreement.

The repatriation comes amid deteriorating Cuba-US relations . President Donald Trump has demanded that Cuba “make a deal before it is too late,” threatening to cut Venezuelan oil shipments that sustain the Cuban economy. In parallel, the US pledged humanitarian aid for Hurricane Melissa recovery, but officials plan to distribute supplies through the Catholic Church , bypassing the government, a move Havana condemned as politically motivated.

The funeral sparked widespread nationalism on the island, with calls for demonstrations outside the US Embassy in Havana. Ordinary citizens like Carmen Gómez, a 58-year-old industrial designer, expressed patriotism, saying, “They are people willing to defend their principles and values… and that will always unite us.”