Cuba on Thursday paid tribute to 32 soldiers killed in a U.S. military strike that ousted Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, in a ceremony attended by revolutionary leader Raul Castro.
Havana decreed two days of tribute for the men, some of whom were assigned to Maduro’s protection team. Twenty-one were from Cuba’s interior ministry, which oversees intelligence services, and the rest from the military, officials said.
President Miguel Diaz-Canel and Castro, the retired former leader, attended the reception of the soldiers’ remains at Havana’s Jose Marti International Airport. Urns draped in Cuban flags were unloaded from a plane, state television showed.
Interior Minister General Lazaro Alberto Alvarez said the soldiers had “fought to the last bullet” during U.S. bombings and a special forces raid that seized Maduro and his wife from their Caracas residence on Jan. 3.
“We do not receive them with resignation; we do so with profound pride,” Alvarez said, adding the United States “will never be able to buy the dignity of the Cuban people.”
The remains were transported in Jeeps to the Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces as crowds lined the streets. Public tributes were scheduled through the day, ending with a gathering outside the U.S. Embassy.
The ceremony came as U.S. President Donald Trump urged Cuba to “make a deal” or face consequences, including cuts to oil and financial support previously provided by Venezuela.
Cuba dismissed as “political manipulation” a U.S. offer of humanitarian aid after Hurricane Melissa.
“The US government is exploiting what might seem like a humanitarian gesture for opportunistic purposes and political manipulation,” Cuba’s foreign ministry said.
Senior U.S. official Jeremy Lewin urged Havana not to “politicize” the aid.
“We look at this as the first, the beginning of what we hope will be a much broader ability to deliver assistance directly to the Cuban people,” he said.
U.S.-Cuba relations have deteriorated further since Maduro and his wife were taken to New York to face drug-trafficking charges. Twenty-three Venezuelan soldiers were also killed in the U.S. operation.
