A motorcade transports urns containing the remains of Cuban officers killed during the US operation in Venezuela that captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, through Havana, Cuba, on January 15, 2026. (AP/Ramon Espinosa)
HAVANA (AP) — Thousands of Cubans line one of Havana’s most iconic streets to await the bodies of 32 officers killed during the US attack on Venezuela, as the island remains under threat by the Trump administration.
Soldiers march stiff-legged into the headquarters of the Ministry of the Armed Forces and place the urns on a long table next to the pictures of those killed. Tens of thousands of people pay their respects, saluting the urns or holding their hands over their hearts, many of them drenched from standing outside in a heavy downpour.
The mass funeral is one of only a handful that the Cuban government has organized over the past half-century.
The soldiers were part of the security detail of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro during the January 3 raid on his residence to seize the former leader and bring him to the US to face drug trafficking charges.
Military members pay their last respects at a memorial ceremony to Cuban officers killed during the US operation in Venezuela that captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, at the Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces in Havana, Cuba, on January 15, 2026. (AP/Ramon Espinosa)
Tensions between Cuba and the US have spiked, with Trump recently demanding that the Caribbean country make a deal with him before it is “too late.” He did not explain what kind of deal.
Trump also has said that Cuba will no longer live off Venezuela’s money and oil. Experts warn that the abrupt end of oil shipments could be catastrophic for Cuba, which is already struggling with serious blackouts and a crumbling power grid.
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