The widow of Colonel Orlando Osoria López, one of the Cuban military personnel who died in Caracas during the operation to capture dictator Nicolás Maduro on January 3, stated on television that he died as he wished.
"I don’t know how to express what I feel," he said at the beginning of the interview.
Osoria López, 49 years old, was born in Baire, Contramaestre municipality, Santiago de Cuba, where he graduated in the specialty of Tactical Command of Special Troops at the Special Troops Cadet School of the FAR.
She lived in Jagüey Grande, Matanzas; she had a son and a granddaughter who was just over a year old.
"The only thing I can tell you is that he died the way he wanted. He was very forward-thinking. He never took a step back," the woman emphasized.
At the time of his death, Osoria López was part of the Personal Security Directorate, responsible for the escort of leaders.
His position within that structure confirms what the regime has been denying for years: that the Cuban military was not on a symbolic or secondary mission in Caracas, but rather a direct cog in the security of Chavista political power.
His wife insisted on praising his combative profile. "I'm sure he was one of the ones who fought the hardest there. (...) He didn't eat fear," she stated.
Despite the pain, she reiterated her pride: "I am proud of him. Proud, even though it hurts that I have lost him."
The official coverage portrays Osoria López and the other fallen as heroes, but the facts that emerge from the testimonies themselves reveal another dimension: these soldiers were in Caracas protecting Nicolás Maduro's political power, not defending Cuba or a humanitarian cause, but rather an foreign regime.
What the injured colonel said in Caracas
This week, Colonel Pedro Yadín Domínguez, injured during the operation on January 3rd in Caracas, broke his silence on Cuban state television, where he confirmed that he was in Venezuela "fulfilling a mission" when the attack occurred.
According to his account, he and other Cuban soldiers were resting when they were caught off guard by a large-scale air operation. "The attack resulted in the deaths of 11 of my comrades at that location," he said, describing an "entirely disproportionate" offensive.
Domínguez assured that the group barely had any weapons and that their role was to support presidential security. "We hardly had any weaponry," he explained.
The officer was injured and was operated on in a Venezuelan military hospital, with care provided by the local armed forces.
Although the official report insisted on labeling the operation as an "imperialist aggression," its own testimony made it clear that the Cubans were deployed in tasks directly related to the protection of the Venezuelan president.
Beyond the epic discourse
While state television glorifies the epic, testimonies provide information that the regime typically handles with great caution. The account of the wounded colonel confirms that there were Cuban officials directly involved in the security of the Venezuelan political power.
It was not just about advisory support or symbolic cooperation. The Cuban presence in Venezuela was operational, tied to the protection of Nicolás Maduro's regime amid a deep crisis. The deaths did not occur defending Cuba or its population, but in a foreign context, supporting a foreign government.
In that context, the widow's phrase - "he died as he wanted" - is caught between two planes: the human, legitimate one of a woman defending her husband's memory, and the political one, where that death is woven into a narrative that seeks to portray an intervention, which, in reality, protected a dictator, as heroic.
The deaths of Cuban military personnel in Caracas reveal the extent of Havana's military commitment to chavismo and how decisions made far from the island continue to take Cuban lives.
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