HAVANA: Tens of thousands of Cubans crowded Friday into an open-air plaza known as the “Anti-Imperialist Tribune” across from the US Embassy in Havana to decry the killing of 32 Cuban officers in Venezuela and demand that the US government release former president Nicolás Maduro.
The crowd clutched Cuban and Venezuelan flags as part of a demonstration organized by the government as tensions between Cuba and the US remain heightened after the US struck Caracas on Jan. 3 and arrested Maduro.
“The entire Nation rises up!” wrote Cuba’s Foreign Ministry on X. “It is a resounding response to those who dare to threaten the peace and sovereignty for which we have fought so hard.”
The 32 Cuban officers were part of Maduro’s security detail killed during the Jan. 3 raid on his residence to seize the former leader and bring him to the US to face drug trafficking charges.
Cuba’s national hymn rang out at Friday’s demonstration as large Cuban flags waved in the chilly wind and big waves broke nearby along Havana’s famed pier. President Miguel Díaz-Canel shook hands with the crowd clad in jackets and scarves.
The demonstration was a show of popular strength after US President Donald Trump recently demanded that Cuba make a deal with him before it is “too late.” He did not explain what kind of deal.
Trump also has said that Cuba will no longer live off Venezuela’s oil and money. Experts say the move could have catastrophic consequences since Cuba is already struggling with severe blackouts.
Friday’s demonstration was expected to become a parade that Cubans call a “combatant march,” a custom that originated during the time of the late leader Fidel Castro.
Washington has maintained a policy of sanctions against Cuba since the 1960s, but during Trump’s presidency, the sanctions were further tightened, suffocating the island’s economy, an objective explicitly acknowledged by the White House.
On Thursday, tens of thousands of Cubans gathered at the headquarters of the Ministry of the Armed Forces to pay their respects to the 32 officers killed.
Their remains arrived home on Thursday morning, and they are scheduled to be laid to rest on Friday afternoon in various cemeteries following memorial ceremonies in all of Cuba’s provincial capitals.
