Venezuela’s defense ministry says a total of 83 people have been killed in an attack to kidnap US President Nicolas Maduro.
Nine female soldiers were among 47 Venezuelan soldiers when the United States attacked the capital, Caracas, earlier this month. Abduction of President Nicolás MaduroVenezuela’s Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez said.
Revising the number of Venezuelan military casualties from an initial report of 23, the defense minister said on Friday that a total of 83 people were killed in the January 3 attack by US forces.
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Among the dead were 32 Cuban soldiers, some of whom were assigned to President Maduro’s personal protection force.
“What did the men and women of our Bolivarian National Armed Forces do in the face of military aggression? They gave their lives, they honored history and the homeland,” Padrino said at a ceremony honoring those killed in the attack.
The minister also said that a place would be fixed for the construction of a memorial to those killed.
Cuba on Thursday received the remains of 32 soldiers, who were killed in the early hours of January 3.
More than 112 people are reported to have been injured in the US attack, which began with bombing of military targets and US forces landing in helicopters and kidnapping Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, from their residence in Caracas.
Officials in Venezuela have not yet determined the full extent of civilian casualties from the US attack. Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello said earlier this week that experts needed to use DNA testing to identify the victims, as some were left in “small pieces” in the US attack.
Interim President Delsey Rodriguez, who has declared seven days of mourning for those killed in the US attack, met in Caracas on Thursday with CIA director John Ratcliffe, whose agency played a key role in Maduro’s kidnapping, the Associated Press news agency reported.
A US official told the AP that Ratcliffe discussed possible economic cooperation between the two countries and warned that Venezuela could never again allow the presence of US enemies, including drug traffickers, on its soil.
‘Emperor of the White House’
Thousands of Cubans protested outside the US Embassy in Havana on Friday Condemn the murder 32 Cuban soldiers in attack on Venezuela.
A rally organized by the Cuban government erupted in the José Martí Anti-Imperialist Plaza across from the US diplomatic compound.
The US is “ruled by a president who considers himself an emperor”, said one of the protesters, 64-year-old Rene Gonzalez.
“We must show him that ideas are worth more than weapons,” he said.
Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel shook hands with protesters before delivering a speech in which he said Washington had “opened the door to an era of barbarism, looting and neo-fascism”.
“No one surrenders here,” Diaz-Canel said. “The current monarch of the White House and his notorious secretary of state have not stopped threatening me.”
“Cuba does not need to make any political concessions, and it will never be on the table for negotiations aimed at reaching an understanding between Cuba and the United States,” he said.
“It is important that they understand this. We will always be open to dialogue and improving relations between our two countries, but only based on equal terms and mutual respect,” he added.
US President Donald Trump recently demanded that Cuba reach an agreement with him before it is “too late”. He did not specify what kind of deal or what would happen beyond his term.
Trump has also said that Cuba will no longer be cut off from Venezuela’s oil reserves, which the US president has repeatedly said now belong to the US.
Havana is heavily dependent on Venezuelan oil, and experts warn that if supplies dry up, the consequences could be dire for cash-strapped Cuba, which is already struggling with severe power blackouts and years of US-imposed sanctions.
Friday’s demonstration in Havana was held a day after thousands of Cubans gathered at the headquarters of the Ministry of the Armed Forces in the capital to pay tribute to 32 slain officers from Venezuela.
