U.S. forces killed at least 55 Venezuelan and Cuban military and security personnel in the raid that led to the capture and ouster of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, Caracas and Havana officials said Tuesday.The Venezuelan military confirmed for the first time that 23 of its soldiers were killed in the US strikes on Saturday. Authorities have not yet released official figures on civilian casualties. Cuba said 32 members of its armed forces and Interior Ministry security personnel stationed in Caracas died in the operation.The Cuban victims ranged in age from 26 to 67 and included two colonels and a lieutenant colonel. Venezuelan Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino López said many of the Cubans killed were believed to be part of Maduro’s security forces, which were largely wiped out during the attack.The operation began with bombings of military targets and ended with US special forces landing by helicopter to capture Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores from a compound. Both were flown to New York, where they appeared in court Monday and pleaded not guilty to drug trafficking and other charges.Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum called on Washington on Tuesday to ensure Maduro receives a “fair trial.”A few hours after appearing in court, Maduro’s former deputy Delcy Rodríguez was sworn in as interim president. US President Donald Trump said he was willing to work with Rodríguez provided she met his demands to give US companies access to Venezuela’s oil reserves.Rodríguez now faces the challenge of withstanding U.S. pressure while keeping Maduro loyalists within the security establishment on his side. She has tried to project unity with hardliners in the former government, including Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello and Padrino López, both of whom retained their posts.Concerns about repression continued as a journalists’ union reported that 14 journalists and media workers, most of them foreign outlets, were arrested while covering Rodríguez’s inauguration in parliament on Monday. Two more foreign media journalists were arrested near the Colombian border. All were later released.Opposition leader María Corina Machado criticized Rodríguez in an interview with Fox News, saying she could not be trusted. “Delcy Rodriguez is, as you know, one of the main architects of torture, persecution, corruption and drug trafficking,” Machado said. “She is the key ally and liaison to Russia, China and Iran, certainly not a person that international investors could trust.”Trump has publicly supported Rodríguez so far, but warned that she would face consequences if she did not follow Washington’s agenda. He described Maduro on Tuesday as a “violent guy” who had “killed millions of people” and claimed: “They have a torture chamber in the middle of Caracas that they are closing.”Venezuela’s constitution requires elections to be held within 30 days once Maduro is officially declared absent. Machado said she is confident of being victorious in such a vote. “In a free and fair election we will win with over 90 percent of the vote, I have no doubt about that,” she told Fox News.She promised to “make Venezuela the energy center of America,” “dismantle all these criminal structures,” and “repatriate millions of Venezuelans who had to flee our country.” Machado also said she would award her Nobel Prize to Trump, but added that she had not spoken to the US president since October 10.
