Mexico City, Jn 15, (dpa/GNA) – The remains of the 32 Cuban security officers killed in the US military operation in Venezuela, arrived back in their homeland on Thursday.
Just under two weeks after the US attack on Venezuela, the urns containing their ashes, covered with Cuban flags, were received with military honours at the international airport in the capital Havana.
President Miguel Díaz-Canel, along with former president and revolutionary fighter Raúl Castro, attended the ceremony, which was broadcast on state television.
The urns were carried from a plane and placed on the open loading areas of six military vehicles. Soldiers in white dress uniforms then drove them to the Ministry of Revolutionary Armed Forces for a further memorial service.
Cubans gathered along the streets with flags to say goodbye.
The Cuban government describes them as martyrs.
During the US operation, which according to the government in Caracas claimed the lives of at least 100 people, president Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores were captured by elite soldiers and taken to New York. There they are to be tried for drug offences.
According to Cuba’s ruling Communist Party, the Cubans had been sent to the South American country at the request of the Venezuelan authorities. Experts say the Cubans had been responsible for Maduro’s personal security in Venezuela for years.
GNA