The bodies of 32 Cuban officers killed during a stunning U.S. attack on Venezuela have been repatriated o their homeland<\/b>
\nCuban soldiers wearing white gloves marched out of a plane on Thursday carrying boxes with the remains of the 32 Cuban officers killed during a stunning U.S. attack on Venezuela as trumpets and drums played solemnly at Havana’s airport.
Nearby, thousands of Cubans lined one of the Havana\u2019s most iconic streets to await the bodies of colonels, lieutenants, majors and captains as the island remained under threat by the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump.
Hours earlier, state television showed images of more than a dozen wounded people accompanied by Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodr\u00edguez arriving Wednesday night from Venezuela. Some were in wheelchairs.
The official announcer indicated that they were \u201ccombatants\u201d who had been \u201cwounded\u201d in Venezuela. They were greeted by the Minister of the Interior, L\u00e1zaro Alberto \u00c1lvarez, and the Minister of the Revolutionary Armed Forces, \u00c1lvaro L\u00f3pez Miera.
Those injured and the bodies of those killed arrived as tensions grow between Cuba and U.S., with President Donald Trump recently demanding that the Caribbean country make a deal with him before it is \u201ctoo late.\u201d He did not explain what kind of deal.
Trump also has said that Cuba will no longer live off Venezuela’s money and oil. Experts warn that the abrupt end of oil shipments could be catastrophic for Cuba, which is already struggling with serious blackouts and a crumbling power grid.
Cuba recently released the names and ranks of 32 military personnel \u2014 ranging in age from 26 to 60 \u2014 who were part of the security detail of Venezuelan President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro during the raid on his residence on January 3. They included members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces and the Ministry of the Interior, the island\u2019s two security agencies.
Cuban and Venezuelan authorities have said that the uniformed personnel were part of protection agreements between the two countries.
The remains of those killed would be placed at the headquarters of the Ministry of the Armed Forces, next to Revolution Square, so that the public could pay their respects.
Meanwhile, a demonstration was planned for Friday across from the U.S. Embassy in an open-air forum known as the Anti-Imperialist Tribune. Officials have said they expect the demonstration to be massive.
\u201cPeople are upset and hurt. There\u2019s a lot of talk on social media; but many do believe that the dead are martyrs\u201d of a historic struggle against the United States, analyst and former diplomat Carlos Alzugaray told The Associated Press.
Thursday\u2019s mass funeral was only one of a handful that the Cuban government has organized in almost half a century.
In October 1976, then-President Fidel Castro led a massive demonstration to bid farewell to the 73 people killed in the bombing of a Cubana de Aviaci\u00f3n civilian flight financed by anti-revolutionary leaders living in the U.S. Most of the victims were Cuban athletes returning to their island.
In December 1989, officials organized \u201cOperation Tribute\u201d honor the remains of more than 2,000 Cuban combatants who died in Angola during Cuba\u2019s participation in the war that defeated the South African army and ended the apartheid system. In October 1997, memorial services were held following the arrival of the remains of guerrilla commander Ernesto \u201cChe\u201d Guevara and six of his comrades, who died in 1967.<\/p>\n