Cuban soldiers injured during the capture of Maduro arrive in Havana

Madrid/He Ilyushin Il-96-300 of Cubana de Aviación landed this Wednesday in Havana with a group of Cuban soldiers from Nicolás Maduro’s security ring who were injured during the US attack on Venezuela on January 3 to capture the former Chavista president and his wife, Cilia Flores.

The soldiers arrived accompanied by the Foreign Minister, Bruno Rodríguez, and were received at the foot of the plane by the Minister of the Interior, Lázaro Alberto Álvarez, and the Minister of the Revolutionary Armed Forces, Álvaro López Miera.

The number of members of the group is unknown, as well as the names or health status of each one. In the images broadcast by Canal Caribe At least two could be seen in wheelchairs – one of them with a leg in a cast – but they appeared to be in good physical shape. Among those who descended the plane stairs alone, some limp.

The official press has indicated that at the reception there were other leaders of the Communist Party, as well as the Minister of Public Health, José Ángel Portal Miranda, who conveyed to the soldiers “the greeting, recognition and affection of all the people for their courage and fortitude in the face of imperialist aggression and for not allowing themselves to be defeated by threats.”

Furthermore, the note states that the return of the military “represents the unity between both nations, founded on the example of Commander Hugo Chávez and the Historical Leader of the Cuban Revolution, Fidel Castro Ruz and forged in the fight for peace, sovereignty and dignity of Our America.”

The group made up the advance party for the arrival, this Thursday, of the 32 who died in the same operation, for whom the Government has announced the granting of a promotion in the military rank “posthumously.”

The group is scheduled to arrive early in the morning at the José Martí airport in Havana, where tribute will be paid. Subsequently, they will be taken along Rancho Boyeros Avenue to the headquarters of the Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces where the Government will place “a representation of the people” accompanying the procession, which will be “concentrated on both sides of the road” and “will honor the fallen.”

In that same place, as this newspaper was able to verify, the street was decorated yesterday by painting on a wall – on a white background and in red and black capital letters – the slogan “Fidel forever”, which in turn serves to commemorate the one hundred years since the birth of Fidel Castro that the regime celebrates.

Starting at 10 in the morning, the room with the mortal remains of the deceased will be opened to citizens who want to attend, although we will have to take into account the numerous closed streets that will be in Havana, where parking is prohibited in several areas.

One day later, at 7:30 this Friday, the authorities have called on Havana residents to gather in front of the Anti-Imperialist Tribune for an event called “March of the Combatant People, as a reaffirmation of their commitment to the homeland.”

The event will have replicas in each provincial capital at 9 in the morning and, as the statement urges, “all municipalities in the country will carry out acts of posthumous tribute.” For these activities, in Santiago de Cuba a “special insurance” for transportation has been announced, in order to transport the population that wants to attend, both to the Plaza de la Revolución Antonio Maceo and the Santa Ifigenia cemetery, to the “funeral tribute to the Cuban fighters who fell in Venezuela”, all despite the fuel shortage of recent days.

The burials will take place at 4 p.m. on Friday, in the pantheons of the Fallen for the Defense of the towns of origin of the deceased.

The official press has also planned an informative display on the occasion of these two days, which will be broadcast live “minute by minute”, in addition to publishing opinion columns full of praise for the “thirty-two lions of Martí’s lineage.”

The Cuban regime has denied on so many occasions that it has intelligence and military personnel in Venezuela that many now distrust that the number of deaths in the operation is real. Likewise, it is believed that there may be Cuban soldiers captured by the United States that have not been talked about.