By DÁNICA COTO and ANDREA RODRÍGUEZ
HAVANA (AP) — Cuban officers on Monday lowered flags earlier than daybreak to mourn 32 safety officers they are saying have been killed within the U.S. weekend strike in Venezuela, the island nation’s closest ally, as residents right here marvel what the seize of President Nicolás Maduro means for his or her future.
The 2 governments are so shut that Cuban troopers and safety brokers have been usually the Venezuelan president’s bodyguards, and Venezuela’s petroleum has stored the economically ailing island limping alongside for years. Cuban authorities over the weekend stated the 32 had been killed within the shock assault however have given no additional particulars.
The Trump administration has warned outright that toppling Maduro will assist advance one other decades-long aim: Dealing a blow to the Cuban authorities. Severing Cuba from Venezuela might have disastrous penalties for its leaders, who on Saturday known as for the worldwide group to face as much as “state terrorism.”
On Saturday, Trump stated the ailing Cuban economic system might be additional battered by Maduro’s ouster.
“It’s going down,” Trump stated of Cuba. “It’s going down for the count.”
Many observers say Cuba, an island of about 10 million individuals, exerted a outstanding diploma of affect over Venezuela, an oil-rich nation with thrice as many individuals. On the similar time, Cubans have lengthy been plagued by fixed blackouts and shortages of fundamental meals. And after the assault, they woke to the once-unimaginable chance of a fair grimmer future.
“I can’t talk. I have no words,” 75-year-old Berta Luz Sierra Molina stated as she sobbed and positioned a hand over her face.
Regardless that 63-year-old Regina Méndez is simply too outdated to hitch the Cuban army, she stated that “we have to stand strong.”
“Give me a rifle, and I’ll go fight,” Méndez stated.
The Cuban flag flies at half-mast on the Anti-Imperialist Tribune close to the U.S. embassy in Havana, Cuba, Monday, Jan. 5, 2026, in reminiscence of Cubans who died two days earlier than in Caracas, Venezuela through the seize of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro by U.S. forces. (AP Picture/Ramon Espinosa)
The Cuban flag flies at half-mast on the Anti-Imperialist Tribune close to the U.S. embassy in Havana, Cuba, Monday, Jan. 5, 2026, in reminiscence of Cubans who died two days earlier than in Caracas, Venezuela through the seize of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro by U.S. forces. (AP Picture/Ramon Espinosa)
Cubans attend a rally in Havana, Saturday, Jan. 3, 2026, in solidarity with Venezuela after the U.S. captured President Nicolas Maduro and flew him out of Venezuela. (AP Picture/Ramon Espinosa)
Present Caption
1 of three
The Cuban flag flies at half-mast on the Anti-Imperialist Tribune close to the U.S. embassy in Havana, Cuba, Monday, Jan. 5, 2026, in reminiscence of Cubans who died two days earlier than in Caracas, Venezuela through the seize of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro by U.S. forces. (AP Picture/Ramon Espinosa)
Increase
Maduro’s authorities was delivery a mean of 35,000 barrels of oil every day during the last three months, a few quarter of complete demand, stated Jorge Piñón, a Cuban power knowledgeable on the College of Texas at Austin Vitality Institute.
“The question to which we don’t have an answer, which is critical: Is the U.S. going to allow Venezuela to continue supplying Cuba with oil?” he stated.
Piñón famous that Mexico as soon as equipped Cuba with 22,000 barrels of oil a day earlier than it dropped to 7,000 barrels after U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio visited Mexico Metropolis in early September.
“I don’t see Mexico jumping in right now,” Piñón stated. “The U.S. government would go bonkers.”
Ricardo Torres, a Cuban economist at American College in Washington, stated that “blackouts have been significant, and that is with Venezuela still sending some oil.”
“Imagine a future now in the short term losing that,” he stated. “It’s a catastrophe.”
Piñón famous that Cuba doesn’t have the cash to purchase oil on the worldwide market.
“The only ally that they have left out there with oil is Russia,” he stated, noting that it sends Cuba about 2 million barrels a yr.
“Russia has the capability to fill the gap. Do they have the political commitment, or the political desire to do so? I don’t know,” he stated.
Torres additionally questioned whether or not Russia would prolong a hand.
“Meddling with Cuba could jeopardize your negotiation with the U.S. around Ukraine. Why would you do it? Ukraine is far more important,” he stated.
Torres stated Cuba ought to open its doorways to the personal sector and market and cut back its public sector, strikes that might assist immediate China to step in and assist Cuba.
“Do they have an alternative? I don’t think they do,” he stated.
Coto reported from San Juan, Puerto Rico. Related Press reporters Milexsy Durán in Havana and Isabel DeBre in Buenos Aires contributed.
This story has been corrected to notice that Rubio visited Mexico in early September, not August.
