Remains of 32 Cuban officers killed during strike on Venezuela repatriated as U.S. threat lingers

Workers fly the Cuban flag at half-mast at the Anti-Imperialist Tribune near the U.S. embassy in Havana, Cuba, Monday, Jan. 5, 2026, in memory of Cubans who died two days before in Caracas, Venezuela during the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro by U.S. forces. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

HAVANA — Trumpets and drums played solemnly at Havana’s airport Thursday as white-gloved Cuban soldiers marched out of a plane carrying urns with remains of the 32 Cuban officers killed during a stunning U.S. attack on Venezuela.

Nearby, thousands of Cubans lined one of Havana’s most iconic streets to await the bodies as the island remained under threat by the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump.

The soldiers’ shoes clacked as they marched stiff-legged into the headquarters of the Ministry of the Armed Forces and placed the urns on a long table next to the pictures of those killed. Tens of thousands of people paid their respects, saluting the urns or holding their hand over their heart, many of them drenched from standing outside in a heavy downpour.

Thursday’s mass funeral was only one of a handful that the Cuban government has organized over the past half-century.

The soldiers were part of the security detail of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro during the Jan. 3 raid on his residence to seize the former leader and bring him to the U.S. to face drug trafficking charges.

State television also showed images of what it said were more than a dozen wounded combatants from the raid, accompanied by Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez after arriving Wednesday night from Venezuela. A man identified in state media as Col. Pedro Yadin Dominguez attended Thursday’s ceremony in a wheelchair.

He said it was a “disproportionate attack” that killed 11 colleagues around him as they slept. Yadin said he was committed to doing “whatever it takes to defend this people and to remain united in the face of threats from the United States.”

Tensions between Cuba and the U.S. 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.

`That will always unite us’

Officials unfurled a massive flag at Havana’s airport as President Miguel Diaz-Canel, clad in military garb, stood silent next to former President Raul Castro, with what appeared to be the relatives of those killed looking on nearby.

Cuban Interior Minister Lazaro Alberto Alvarez Casas called the slain soldiers “heroes” of an anti-imperialist struggle spanning both Cuba and Venezuela. In an apparent reference to the U.S., he said the “enemy” speaks of “high-precision operations, of troops, of elites, of supremacy.

“We, on the other hand, speak of faces, of families who have lost a father, a son, a husband, a brother,” Alvarez said.

The events demonstrate that “imperialism may possess more sophisticated weapons; it may have immense material wealth; it may buy the minds of the wavering; but there is one thing it will never be able to buy: the dignity of the Cuban people,” he said.

Carmen Gomez, a 58-year-old industrial designer, was among the thousands of Cubans who lined a street where motorcycles and military vehicles thundered by with the remains of those killed.

“They are people willing to defend their principles and values, and we must pay tribute to them,” Gomez said. “It’s because of the sense of patriotism that Cubans have, and that will always unite us.”`People are upset and hurt’

The 32 military personnel ranged in age from 26 to 60 and were part of protection agreements between the two countries.

Officials in Cuba have said they expect a massive demonstration Friday across from the U.S. Embassy to protest the deaths.

“People are upset and hurt ... many do believe that the dead are martyrs” of a historic struggle against the United States, analyst and former diplomat Carlos Alzugaray told The Associated Press.

The first mass funeral in decades

In October 1976, then-President Fidel Castro led a massive demonstration to bid farewell to the 73 people killed in the bombing of a civilian flight financed by anti-revolutionary leaders in the U.S. Most of the victims were Cuban athletes.

In December 1989, officials organized a ceremony to honor the more than 2,000 Cuban combatants who died in Angola during Cuba’s participation in a war that defeated the South African army.

In October 1997, memorial services were held following the arrival of the remains of guerrilla commander Ernesto “Che” Guevara and six of his comrades, who died in 1967.

The latest mass burial is critical to honor those slain, said Jose Luis Pineiro, a 60-year-old doctor who lived for four years in Venezuela.

“I don’t think Trump is crazy enough to come and enter a country like this, ours, and if he does, he’s going to have to take an aspirin or some painkiller to avoid the headache he’s going to get,” Pineiro said. “These were 32 heroes who fought him. Can you imagine an entire nation? He’s going to lose.”

Cuba riled by U.S. aid for hurricane recovery

The remains arrived a day after the U.S. announced $3 million in additional aid to help the island recover from the catastrophic Hurricane Melissa. The first flight took off on Wednesday, and a second flight was scheduled for Friday. A commercial vessel also will deliver food and other supplies.

Cuba had said on Wednesday that any contributions will be channeled through the government.

But U.S. State Department foreign assistance official Jeremy Lewin said Thursday that the U.S. was working with Cuba’s Catholic Church to distribute aid, as part of Washington’s efforts to give assistance directly to the Cuban people.

“There’s nothing political about cans of tuna and rice and beans and pasta,” he said Thursday, warning that the Cuban government should not intervene or divert supplies. “We will be watching, and we will hold them accountable.”

Lewin said the Cuban government has a choice to: “Step down or better provide towards people.” Lewin added that “if there was no regime,” the U.S. would provide “billions and billions of dollars” in assistance, as well as investment and development: “That’s what lies on the other side of the regime for the Cuban people.”

Rodriguez, the Cuban foreign minister, said the U.S. government was “exploiting what appears to be a humanitarian gesture for opportunistic and politically manipulative purposes.”

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By Andrea Rodríguez and Dánica Coto

Coto contributed from San Juan, Puerto Rico.