The 32 Cubans who passed away on January 3 in Venezuela during the U.S. military operation that culminated in the capture of Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, did not belong to the feared elite units of the Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR) or the Ministry of the Interior (MININT), as several international media outlets have claimed.
According to official information published by the Cuban regime itself, the deceased were bodyguards, MININT agents, and two active officers of the FAR —one captain and one major sergeant— while the rest of the uniformed personnel from the FAR listed in the official report were identified as retired soldiers.
This contradicts the versions circulated by numerous media outlets and analysts, who claimed that among the casualties were members of the Avispas Negras froo of the Brigada Especial Nacional (BEN, black berets), two elite units of the Cuban regime known for their training in hand-to-hand combat and for being deployed in repression and protest control operations within the island.
The deceased: MININT agents and two active officers of the FAR
The list includes the names, ranks, and ages of the 32 deceased, among whom are Colonel Humberto Alfonso Roca Sánchez (67 years old) and Colonel Lázaro Evangelio Rodríguez Rodríguez (62), as well as several majors, captains, and lieutenants.
The Captain Adrián Pérez Beades (34 years old) and the Senior Corporal Suriel Godales Alarcón (42) are the only FAR officers mentioned in the list, while the rest identified by the regime were classified as retired soldiers, aged between 35 and 59 years.
Trajectory of some of the deceased
Several of the fallen officers had previously been identified in other escort missions within Cuba, including Colonel Humberto Alfonso Roca Sánchez, 67 years old, who may have held personal security roles and could have been one of the leaders of the group that was taken down in Venezuela.
Previous denials of the Cuban regime
Both the Cuban regime and Nicolás Maduro himself denied for years the presence of military personnel from the island in his security detail. However, the publication of the names and ranks of the 32 deceased confirms that these Cubans were part of the protection team for the Venezuelan dictator at the time of his capture by U.S. forces.
The Cuban government has asserted that the fallen were fulfilling their duty to protect Cuba and Venezuela, but it has not provided details about the specific roles they were performing.
A silence that leaves more questions
The lack of official information regarding the role of Cubans who died in Venezuela reinforces doubts about the actual extent of the island's military presence in that country. For years, Havana has insisted that its cooperation with Caracas is strictly civilian, focusing on the dispatch of doctors and technical advisors.
The acknowledgment of the casualties, however, marks a change in the official narrative and highlights the depth of the ties between both regimes, right at a moment when Chavismo began to collaborate with the Trump administration following Maduro's arrest.
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