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The Cuban military and police officers were on a mission the
Caribbean country’s military was carrying out at the request of
Venezuela’s government, according to a statement read on Cuban
state TV on Sunday night.
What the Cubans were working on in the South American nation was
unclear, but Cuba is a close ally of Venezuela’s government and
has sent military and police forces to assist in operations for
years. Rumors of the deaths circulated on the island over the
weekend.
“You know, a lot of Cubans were killed yesterday,” U.S.
President Donald Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One as he
flew Sunday night from Florida back to Washington. “There was a
lot of death on the other side. No death on our side.”
The U.S. operation Saturday seized Venezuelan President Nicolás
Maduro and his wife to face prosecution on an indictment
accusing them of participating in a narco-terrorism conspiracy.
While Venezuela's government has acknowledged that a number of
people died in the American blasts, they did not confirm how
many were killed to The Associated Press.
Cuba’s government announced two days of mourning for the Cuban
officers who were killed, and former president and revolutionary
leader Raúl Castro and President Miguel Díaz-Canel sent
condolences to their families. The names of the dead and the
positions they held were not immediately disclosed by Cuban
authorities.
“Faithful to their responsibilities for security and defense,
our compatriots fulfilled their duty with dignity and heroism
and fell after fierce resistance in direct combat against the
attackers or as a result of the bombings of the facilities,” the
official statement said.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the son of Cuban
immigrants, also pointed to Cuban involvement in Venezuela over
the weekend, saying that Maduro's internal security apparatus
was headed by Cubans and that they were “propping up Maduro.”
“All the guards that help protect Maduro — this is well known —
their whole spy agency, all that were full of Cubans,” Rubio
said.
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Associated Press reporters Megan Janetsky in Mexico City and
Darlene Superville aboard Air Force One contributed to this
report.
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