Cuban security advisors and doctors began to leave Venezuela while the government of interim President Delcy Rodríguez faces intense pressure from Washington to dismantle the most important leftist alliance in Latin America, according to 11 sources familiar with the matter.
Rodríguez entrusted his protection to Venezuelan bodyguardsaccording to four of the sources, unlike the deposed president Nicolás Maduro and his predecessor, the late Hugo Chávez, who depended on Cuban elite forces.
Thirty-two Cubans died in the US military attack that captured Maduro on January 3, according to the Government of Havana. These soldiers and bodyguards were part of a deep security agreement between Venezuela and Cuba that began in the late 2000s, in which the island’s intelligence agents were integrated throughout the military and into Venezuela’s formidable General Directorate of Military Counterintelligence, critical to eliminating internal opposition.
“Cuban influence was absolutely essential” to the survival of the Chavista government, said Alejandro Velasco, an associate professor of history at New York University and an expert on Venezuela. Within the Dgcim, Some Cuban advisers were removed from their positions, according to a former Venezuelan intelligence official. Some of the Cuban medical workers and security advisers traveled from Venezuela to Cuba on flights in recent weeks, according to two of the sources.
A source close to the Venezuelan ruling party stated that the Cubans left on Rodríguez’s orders due to American pressure.. The other sources were unclear whether the Cubans were forced to leave by the new Venezuelan leadership, leaving of their own free will or being called home by Havana.
The decision to remove the Cubans from the presidential guard and the counterintelligence unit had not been previously reported.
Trump wants to end relations between Venezuela and Cuba
Before the operation to remove Maduro, thousands of Cuban doctors, nurses and sports trainers worked in Venezuela as part of welfare programs started under Chávez. In exchange, Venezuela provided Cuba with a much-needed source of oil.
After the attack, President Donald Trump promised to end the security relationship between Venezuela and Cuba. “Cuba lived, for many years, off large amounts of OIL and MONEY from Venezuela. In exchange, Cuba provided ‘Security Services’ to the last two Venezuelan dictators, BUT NOT ANYMORE!” he wrote in Truth Social on January 11.
In response to questions about Washington’s pressure on Caracas to cut ties with Cuba, a White House official said the United States maintains “a very good relationship with Venezuela’s leaders” and that he believes Rodríguez’s “self-interest aligns with advancing our key objectives.”
Breaking Venezuela’s relationship with Cuba is part of Washington’s broader strategy to overthrow the communist government in Havana. Since mid-December, Washington blocked Venezuela from sending oil to Cuba, economically strangling the island.
The US government is “talking to Cuba, whose leaders should reach an agreement,” the official said.. The Government of Cuba declared it was open to dialogue on equal terms, while it condemned the oil blockade and promised to resist US intervention.
Neither the governments of Cuba nor Venezuela responded to requests for comment. Both countries have publicly stated that their relationship continues. Rodríguez, the daughter of a former Marxist guerrilla, has been a long-time ally of Maduro and a member of Venezuela’s ruling Socialist Party. He also has a close personal relationship with the Cuban Government, according to ten US and Venezuelan sources.
On January 8, Rodríguez appeared alongside Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez at a memorial service in Caracas for the victims of the US attack. “To the brave Venezuelan people, we express the deepest solidarity of Cuba,” said Bruno Rodríguez at the event, before pronouncing the war cry of one of the leaders of the Cuban revolution, Ernesto “Che” Guevara: “Until victory always.”
Later, in January, Delcy Rodríguez also spoke by phone with Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel, stating on social networks that both countries remained “united.” Díaz-Canel, after the same call, stated that Cuba was committed to “continuing to strengthen the historic relations of brotherhood and cooperation.”
Regarding the relationship between both countries, the White House official said: “President Trump understands that they must make certain statements for internal political reasons.”
Flights back to Cuba
A source familiar with the Government’s thinking Cuban He stated that some soldiers injured in the US attack returned to Cuba, but that others remain active in Venezuela. The source also said that many Cuban doctors continue to provide care in Venezuela.
Cuban state media reported in early January that the suspension of commercial flights and the closure of Venezuelan airspace caused a delay that prevented Cuba from bringing doctors home on vacation or to conclude their missions in Venezuela.
Those flights resumed the week following the Jan. 3 U.S. attack, according to those reports.
A US source familiar with the matter said that although the Cuban presence is decreasing, it is likely that some covert intelligence agents will remain in the country to see how the political situation evolves.
Frank Mora, who was US ambassador to the Organization of American States under the Biden administration, said: “Rodriguez is acting very carefully.”
“He wants to keep the Cubans at arm’s length until the situation calms down, until his control of power is clear, but he also doesn’t want to throw them completely under the bus,” Mora said.
At least some Cuban military advisors continue working in Venezuelaaccording to four sources familiar with the matter. Cuban professors also continue to teach at the state university for police and security forces, known as Unes, according to a former police officer.
John Polga-Hecimovich, a professor at the U.S. Naval Academy in Maryland who has studied the role of Cuban security advisers in Venezuela, said the legacy of the Cuban counterintelligence effort remains evident in Caracas, where top Maduro loyalists remain in power.
“Cubans failed to protect Maduro“But they played a key role in keeping the Chavista government in power,” Polga-Hecimovich said. “Coup protection worked wonders.”
