HAVANA — An American navy operation in Venezuela killed 32 Cuban officers over the weekend, the Cuban authorities stated Sunday within the first official dying depend offered of the American strikes within the South American nation.
The Cuban navy and law enforcement officials have been on a mission the Caribbean nation’s navy was finishing up on the request of Venezuela’s authorities, based on a press release learn on Cuban state TV on Sunday evening.
What the Cubans have been engaged on within the South American nation was unclear, however Cuba is a detailed ally of Venezuela’s authorities and has despatched navy and police forces to help in operations for years. Rumors of the deaths circulated on the island over the weekend.
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“You already know, loads of Cubans have been killed yesterday,” U.S. President Donald Trump informed reporters aboard Air Drive One as he flew Sunday evening from Florida again to Washington. “There was loads of dying on the opposite facet. No dying on our facet.”
The U.S. operation Saturday seized Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his spouse to face prosecution on an indictment accusing them of taking part in a narco-terrorism conspiracy.
Whereas Venezuela’s authorities has acknowledged that various individuals died within the American blasts, they didn’t affirm what number of have been killed to The Related Press.
Cuba’s authorities introduced two days of mourning for the Cuban officers who have been killed, and former president and revolutionary chief Raúl Castro and President Miguel Díaz-Canel despatched condolences to their households. The names of the lifeless and the positions they held weren’t instantly disclosed by Cuban authorities.
“Devoted to their tasks for safety and protection, our compatriots fulfilled their obligation with dignity and heroism and fell after fierce resistance in direct fight towards the attackers or on account of the bombings of the amenities,” the official assertion stated.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants, additionally pointed to Cuban involvement in Venezuela over the weekend, saying that Maduro’s inside safety equipment was headed by Cubans and that they have been “propping up Maduro.”
“All of the guards that assist shield Maduro – that is well-known – their entire spy company, all that have been stuffed with Cubans,” Rubio stated.
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Related Press reporters Megan Janetsky in Mexico Metropolis and Darlene Superville aboard Air Drive One contributed to this report.
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