Havana/The Cuban presence in Venezuela is going through one of its most uncertain moments in 2026 since, more than two decades ago, both countries sealed a strategic alliance based on the exchange of oil for professional services. The capture of Nicolás Maduro by US troops, on January 3, accelerated a process that sources consulted in Caracas describe as a decubanization progressive of the country, visible both in official discourse and in daily life.
“I’m careful when I go out not to speak so that they don’t notice my accent because Cubans are no longer welcome here,” he tells 14ymedio Mariana, a 32-year-old Cuban doctor who is on an official mission in Caracas. The doctor, who asks not to reveal her true identity, assures that her healthcare activity has been drastically reduced for weeks. “Since day 3, if I have treated one patient, it is a lot,” he explains. According to their testimony, Cuban doctors are in a state of virtual “quartering”, without clear guidelines on their continuity or on an eventual return to the Island.
“I have several colleagues who have already returned, but until now they are doctors who had already finished their mission and were waiting for their return flight to be organized,” he says. “Anyway, what they say is that we are all going to leave in the coming months because the cooperation agreement is not going to be renewed.” Another sign that reinforces this imminent departure is the poor supply of supplies: “We have practically not been given the resources we need for consultations and procedures, we do not know right now what we are going to have to continue working.”
The doctor adds that, unlike other years, in January 2026 the usual meetings were not held in which the annual plans of the Cuban missions in Venezuela were communicated. “Normally these guidelines are given from the end of January, but this year there has been nothing,” he says. The absence of instructions reinforces the perception of provisionality among cooperators, in a political context marked by the redefinition of alliances and the growing presence of the United States in the Venezuelan reality.
It is estimated that nearly 30,000 Cuban professionals currently work in Venezuela
Although the real number is unknown, it is estimated that nearly 30,000 Cuban professionals, including doctors, sports trainers, technical advisors and personnel linked to the intelligence and security services, currently work in Venezuela as part of the agreements signed during the governments of Fidel Castro and Hugo Chávez. The Venezuelan opposition has repeatedly denounced this cooperation as a form of interference and loss of sovereignty, considering that key sectors of the State were under Cuban influence.
For years, the most critical voices have spoken of a “Cubanization” that has not only permeated surveillance and social control schemes, but even public discourse, the ways of working in ministries and offices of official institutions, even the presence of personnel from the Island in torture centers such as El Helicoide, headquarters of the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service (Sebin), in Caracas.
Several detainees in these centers reported that a “Cuban accent” could be heard among the interrogators, according to a report published in 2024 in The Confidential. This participation would not be isolated, but rather part of cooperation agreements signed between Havana and Caracas that, according to critics, have allowed the transmission of repression techniques and the direct presence of Cuban commissioners in planning and control roles within the Venezuelan security apparatus.
Organizations such as the Casla Institute have brought these complaints to international bodies, arguing that the involvement of Cuban officials in the repression, arbitrary detentions and torture in El Helicoide and other detention centers is not accidental, but the result of decades of alliances between the two States. According to these complaints, the repressive machinery designed on the Island contributed to systematizing practices of state violence, including detentions without due process, interrogations under torture and forced disappearances, which have been used to punish dissidents and opponents of the Venezuelan Government.
Caracas has sent signs of symbolic and practical distancing from Havana
That scheme began to break down after the arrest of Maduro and the rise of Delcy Rodríguez as a central figure of the current Government. Since then, Caracas has sent signals of symbolic and practical distancing from Havana. In recent official events, the presence of the Cuban flag, common for years in ceremonies and institutional events, has been reduced, and there have been changes in positions held by officials of Cuban origin or closely linked to bilateral cooperation.
The constant presence of senior officials of the Havana regime has also been diminished. It was a rare week in which the island’s news programs did not broadcast the arrival of a Cuban leader in Caracas, where he was feted and received at the highest level. The red carpets and handshakes now seem to be more focused on Donald Trump’s emissaries than on Havana’s former allies.
One of the most commented gestures was the replacement in the Ministry of Tourism, where Leticia Gómez, a Cuban national, was replaced by one of Diosdado Cabello’s daughters, a decision interpreted as part of a process of reducing the weight of the foreign presence. Local analysts point out that these movements seek to send a message to both the Venezuelan population and Washington, at a time when the new political balance is still under negotiation.
On the Venezuelan streets, the change is also perceived. Yusniel, a Cuban sports coach who has been in Caracas for more than two years and who asked to use a fictitious name, assures that he has taken extreme precautions. “Being Cuban right now here is no longer something that one can show off,” he says. According to him, he has heard direct criticism after confirming rumors that had been circulating for years about the participation of Cubans in the security ring that protected Maduro. “That has weighed heavily on people’s perception,” he adds. “No one can take the interventionist sign away from us.”
“They tell me that Venezuela came out of the tunnel and that Cuba is coming behind”
At the same time, Yusniel points out that several Venezuelan friends have offered him help if he decides to stay in the country. “They tell me that Venezuela came out of the tunnel and that Cuba is coming behind,” he says. The phrase summarizes a sentiment that is repeated in private conversations: the idea that the collapse of the Chavista model can anticipate similar transformations on the island, and that remaining in Venezuela could represent an opportunity against an eventual return to Cuba.
The impact of the decubanization It is especially noticeable in the health system. For years, outpatient clinics and hospitals in popular neighborhoods of Caracas and other cities operated mostly with Cuban personnel. Since January, however, medical care has been significantly reduced in several centers.
For Cuba, the withdrawal of its presence in Venezuela represents a tremendous economic blow. The medical and technical missions in the oil-producing country have been one of the main sources of foreign currency for the Government for years. An accelerated withdrawal or a significant reduction of this contingent aggravates the already precarious financial situation of the Island, marked by the drop in tourism, fuel shortages and the reduction of international support.
For now, neither Havana nor Caracas have officially announced the end of cooperation. The future of the thousands of Cubans on mission will depend, to a large extent, on the extent to which the United States extends its influence over the new Venezuelan scenario and whether the Government of Delcy Rodríguez chooses to maintain, renegotiate or dismantle the agreements inherited from Chavismo. Meanwhile, Mariana and Yusniel live waiting for a decision that has not yet arrived and avoid saying in public phrases that reveal their origin, such as the very Cuban: “Boy, things are bad.”
