Cuban president says troopers fell defending ‘sovereignty of a sister nation’ amid escalating tensions with Washington.
Printed On 15 Jan 2026
Cuba has paid tribute to 32 of its troopers who had been killed in a United States attack on Venezuela earlier this month that led to the kidnapping of President Nicolas Maduro.
The stays of the troopers, who had been members of Cuba’s armed forces and intelligence businesses, arrived early on Thursday at Havana’s worldwide airport, in coffins draped within the Cuban flag.
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President Miguel Diaz-Canel and Raul Castro, the 94-year-old retired former Cuban chief, had been current in full army uniform to obtain the stays.
Diaz-Canel hailed the troopers earlier this week, saying they “heroically fell in defence of the sovereignty of a sister nation”.
At Thursday’s occasion, Inside Minister Basic Lazaro Alberto Alvarez additionally expressed the nation’s gratitude for the troopers he stated had “fought to the final bullet” through the US army’s January 3 attack on the Venezuelan capital, Caracas.
“We don’t obtain them with resignation; we accomplish that with profound satisfaction,” stated Alvarez, including that the US “won’t ever be capable of purchase the dignity of the Cuban individuals”.
A motorcade later transferred the stays to the armed forces ministry alongside certainly one of Havana’s most important boulevards, lined by hundreds of individuals paying their respects, waving flags and saluting.
Residents of the capital additionally lined as much as pay their respects on the ministry all through the day.
US President Donald Trump has rejected worldwide criticism that the raid to seize Maduro violated worldwide legislation, stressing last week that he’ll solely be guided by his “personal morality”.
That led to soaring tensions all over the world, together with in Latin America specifically, which has an extended historical past of US army intervention.
Tensions between the US and Cuba spiralled this week after Trump instructed the nation he would lower off Venezuelan oil and cash from reaching the island, warning Havana to make a deal earlier than it’s “too late”.
Trump’s feedback prompted a defiant response from Diaz-Canel, who stated Cuba would defend its homeland “to the final drop of blood”.
“We now have all the time been prepared to keep up critical and accountable dialogue with the assorted US administrations, together with the present one, on the premise of sovereign equality, mutual respect and the ideas of worldwide legislation,” the Cuban president stated.
He added that relations between the US and Cuba must be based mostly on worldwide legislation somewhat than “hostility, threats, and financial coercion”.
In the meantime, a rally can also be deliberate on Friday in entrance of the US embassy in Havana to protest the Trump administration’s operation in Venezuela.
Maduro, who was kidnapped by US forces alongside his spouse, Cilia Flores, is being held within the US on drug-related charges, which he denies.
