CARACAS JAN 9 : Venezuela’s armed forces held an emotional funeral in Caracas on Wednesday for some of the soldiers killed during the US military operation that resulted in the capture of former President Nicolás Maduro. Music from a military orchestra echoed through the cemetery as relatives and uniformed personnel marched behind wooden coffins draped in the Venezuelan flag, which were carried past rows of officers standing atattention.
Addressing grieving families, military commander Rafael Murillo thanked them for allowing their loved ones to choose a life in uniform, as the caskets were lowered into the ground amid gun salutes and anguished cries. Armed National Guard personnel had secured parts of the cemetery for hours before and during the ceremony, which followed an emotional wake.
The funeral took place a day after acting President Delcy Rodríguez declared seven days of national mourning for the fallen officers. According to Venezuela’s military, at least 24 Venezuelan officers were killed in the overnight US raid on Saturday that seized Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flores and flew them to New York to face drug-trafficking charges, to which both pleaded not guilty in a US court on Monday.
Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello later said that at least 100 people were killed and a similar number wounded in the operation, without specifying how many were civilians, security personnel or foreign nationals. Cuba has separately reported that 32 Cuban military and police officers deployed in Venezuela died in the attack.
Venezuelan Attorney General Tarek William Saab announced that prosecutors will investigate the deaths, denouncing the raid as a war crime. In a social media post, the Venezuelan military said the blood of the dead “does not cry out for vengeance, but for justice and strength,” vowing not to rest until Maduro is freed, foreign “terrorist groups” are dismantled and such an assault never again violates the country’s sovereignty.
