A mausoleum was inaugurated this Saturday in Caracas to honor the 32 Cuban soldiers who lost their lives on January 3 during the U.S. operation that resulted in the capture of former president Nicolás Maduro.
The ceremony took place in a cemetery in the Venezuelan capital and was led by the Cuban ambassador to Venezuela, Jorge Mayo Fernández, along with members of the diplomatic corps accredited in the country, showed a report from the official Canal Caribe.
During the ceremony, Colonel Marcos Fernández Fleites, the military air and naval attaché at the Cuban embassy, described the site as a "worthy tribute" to the 32 fallen combatants, whom he presented as men who gave their lives for the so-called homeland of Hugo Chávez (1954-2013).
The ceremony included the laying of a floral tribute, the recitation of poems by children, and the placing of red roses at the gravesite monument.
The official narrative of the regime framed the event under the Martian maxim "death is not true when the work of life has been well fulfilled," presenting the fallen as internationalist heroes who gave their lives "for the peace and sovereignty of a brother nation."
The 32 military personnel belonged to the Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR) and the Ministry of Interior (MININT), and many were connected to Maduro's Personal Security Directorate, a presence that Havana had systematically denied for years.
The operation on January 3rd was carried out by special units of the United States Army under direct orders from President Donald Trump, and it also resulted in 24 Venezuelan soldiers killed during the same operation.
The regime acknowledged the death of the 32 on January 4 and published their identities in the official newspaper Granma two days later, under the slogan Honor and Glory.
His remains were repatriated to Havana on January 15, received at the José Martí international airport by former president Raúl Castro, ruler Miguel Díaz-Canel, and Prime Minister Manuel Marrero, among other high-ranking officials.
That day, Raúl Castro made a public appearance wearing a mourning uniform with black insignia and without saying a word, during one of his rare appearances in recent years.
On January 16, simultaneous tributes were held in the provincial capitals, and the burial took place in the cemeteries of those who fell for the defense.
The inauguration of the mausoleum in Caracas, nearly five months after the events, is the latest official act in the narrative of heroism with which Cuba and Venezuela have sought to frame the deaths of the military personnel, at a time when Maduro's downfall worsened the already critical energy and economic situation of the island by interrupting the subsidized oil supply that sustained the alliance between the two dictatorships.
Filed under: