US forces said to have killed 55 Venezuelan, Cuban military personnel in Maduro raid
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A firefighter passing by a burnt military vehicle at La Carlota air base in Caracas on Jan 3.
PHOTO: AFP
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- US forces captured Nicolas Maduro in a raid, resulting in the deaths of 23 Venezuelan and 32 Cuban military personnel, according to reports from Caracas and Havana.
- Delcy Rodriguez was sworn in as interim president and faces pressure from the US to grant access to Venezuela's oil reserves, while maintaining support from Maduro loyalists.
- Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado criticised Rodriguez and seeks free elections, promising to transform Venezuela into an energy hub, with Trump warning Rodriguez to comply with US agenda.
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CARACAS - US forces killed 55 Venezuelan and Cuban military personnel during their stunning raid to capture Nicolas Maduro, tolls published by Caracas and Havana showed on Jan 6.
In the first confirmation of its losses, Venezuela’s military said 23 of its service members died in the Jan 3 attacks
Cuba, which had already announced that 32 members of its armed forces and interior ministry security personnel assigned to duties in Caracas were killed in the raids, also listed its dead.
They ranged in age from 26 to 67 and included two colonels and one lieutenant-colonel.
Many of the dead Cubans are believed to have been members of Maduro’s security detail, which was largely wiped out in the attacks, according to Defence Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez.
The assault began with bombing raids on military targets and culminated with US special forces swooping in by helicopter to seize Maduro and wife Cilia Flores from a compound.
They were later taken to New York, where they appeared in court on Jan 5 and pleaded not guilty to drug trafficking and other charges.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum on Jan 7 called on the United States to ensure Maduro receives a “fair trial”.
Interim president’s challenges
Hours after their court appearance, Maduro’s former deputy, Ms Delcy Rodriguez, was sworn in as interim president.
Venezuela's Vice President Delcy Rodriguez (left) being sworn in as the country's acting president in Caracas, Venezuela. Rodriguez officially became Venezuela's interim president following the capture of Nicolas Maduro by US special forces on 3 Jan.
PHOTO: EPA
US President Donald Trump said he is willing to work with her, as long as she submits to his demands on providing US companies access to Venezuela’s massive oil reserves.
Ms Rodriguez faces a delicate balancing act in trying to respond to those demands while keeping Maduro loyalists on her side.
She has sought to project unity with the hardliners in Maduro’s administration, who control the security forces and powerful paramilitaries that have patrolled the streets in the days since the deposed leader’s capture.
In a sign that a repressive security apparatus remains in place, 14 journalists and media workers, most of them representing foreign media, were detained while covering the presidential inauguration at parliament on Jan 5, a journalists’ union said.
Two other journalists for foreign media were detained near the Colombian border.
All were later released.
Opposition lashes out
Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, who has been given no role by Washington in the post-Maduro transition, said in a Fox News interview that Ms Rodriguez was not to be trusted.
Nobel Peace Prize laureate and Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado listens during a press conference in Oslo, Norway in December 2025.
PHOTO: REUTERS
“Delcy Rodriguez, as you know, is one of the main architects of torture, persecution, corruption, narco trafficking,” she said.
“She’s the main ally and liaison with Russia, China, Iran, certainly not an individual that could be trusted by international investors.”
Mr Trump has so far backed Ms Rodriguez, but warned she would pay “a very big price, probably bigger than Maduro” if she does not comply with Washington’s agenda.
So far, she has made no changes to the Cabinet, with Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello and General Padrino Lopez, widely seen as wielding the real power in Venezuela, retaining their posts.
‘We will win’
A retired general who held high-ranking positions in the military predicted that Ms Rodriguez would throw open Venezuela to US oil and mining companies and perhaps resume diplomatic ties, broken off by Mr Maduro in 2019.
He also believed she would seek to appease criticism of Venezuela’s dire rights record by releasing political prisoners.
Mr Trump on Jan 6 called Maduro a “violent guy” who “killed millions of people” and whose government engaged in torture.
“They have a torture chamber in the middle of Caracas that they are closing up,” he claimed.
The Constitution says that after Maduro is formally declared absent, elections must then be held within 30 days.
Ms Machado told Fox News that “in free and fair elections, we will win by over 90 per cent of the votes, I have no doubt about it.”
She vowed to “turn Venezuela into the energy hub of the Americas”; “dismantle all these criminal structures” and “bring millions of Venezuelans that have been forced to flee our country back home.”
She also offered to give her Nobel prize – an award Mr Trump has long publicly coveted – to the US president.
Ms Machado said, however, that she had not spoken to Mr Trump since Oct 10. AFP
