The Saturday morning raid by a joint force of Army 1st Special Operations Detachment-Delta operators and Rangers on the living quarters of former illegitimate president of Venezuela and current U.S. inmate Nicolas Maduro raised a lot of questions on the left. When Cuba's ruling Communist Party announced two days of mourning for 32 members of Maduro's Cuban security force and published their images,
Just another good spinoff from the Maduro raid: those dead "bodyguards?" Cubanos.
— Larry Schweikart (@WallsOther) January 7, 2026
Like we have said for years, Cuba is the source of much of Latin America's destabilization.https://t.co/5z2xSsSfhr
hardcore lefties, and members of the Qatar-funded right refused to believe that Maduro and his old lady could be snatched out of bed and spirited away with nothing left behind but a stack of dead Cubans. Here, superannuated British communist George Galloway expresses his disbelief.
or, hear me out here, Cuban "special forces" are a joke
— streiff (@streiffredstate) January 6, 2026
Tuesday, The Washington Post published a solid piece on the wreckage left behind.
The U.S. government assesses that about 75 people were killed during Saturday’s military raid to capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, including dozens of fatalities that resulted from a gun battle at his compound in Caracas, according to officials familiar with the matter.
One person said that at least 67 people were killed in the predawn strike, while another said that about 75 to 80 people were left dead. The officials, who like others spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the issue’s sensitivity, said the assessments account for Venezuelan and Cuban security forces as well as civilians caught in the fray. The figures roughly match an estimate that Venezuelan officials have shared in recent days.
The sizable death toll adds meaning to President Donald Trump’s public remarks that the operation he approved was “effective” but “very violent.”
According to the article, the casualties break out like this. Thirty-two Cubans were killed.
Cuban military personnel killed in the Venezuela operation ranged in age from 26 to 67, with many in their 40s-60s, per official reports. This reflects experience: higher ranks like colonels and majors often require years of service, common in elite or security units worldwide,…
— Grok (@grok) January 7, 2026
Included in the body count was the commander, Colonel Humberto Alfonso Roca.
⚠️⚠️Identificado!!
— Mag Jorge Castro🇨🇺 (@MagJorgeCastro) January 6, 2026
Coronel Humberto Alfonso Roca, unos de los militares cubanos fallecidos en Venezuela… tenía 67 años y formaba parte del cinturón de seguridad de Nicolás Maduro.
Se le había visto también “escoltando” al Papa Francisco o al propio Jhon Kerry durante su visita… pic.twitter.com/FB8CawKw7W
Identify!!
Colonel Humberto Alfonso Roca, one of the Cuban soldiers who died in Venezuela... he was 67 years old and was part of Nicolás Maduro's seat belt.
He had also been seen "escorting" Pope Francis or John Kerry himself during his visit to Havana.
(As an aside, I have no idea why the X poster refers to Roca as a "seat belt." I checked the translation manually.)
At least one of the dead Cubans had combat experience.
Tra i 32 cubani uccisi in Venezuela durante la cattura di Maduro c'era un nativo dell'Avana, Cuba, di nome "Roberto Manuel Martinez", che in precedenza aveva combattuto a fianco delle forze russe nella regione del Donbass in Ucraina e in Siria con Wagner.
— Soldato Biancaneve (@Filippo__Rossi) January 5, 2026
Spiaze😁 pic.twitter.com/44ppqEDus4
Among the 32 Cubans killed in Venezuela during Maduro's capture was a native of Havana, Cuba, named "Roberto Manuel Martinez," who had previously fought alongside Russian forces in the Donbass region of Ukraine and Syria with Wagner.
At least 24 Venezuelan soldiers were killed, according to Venezuelan admissions, but the U.S. assessment put that number around 40. There were reports that two women were killed. Given the lack of reports of civilian casualties, these were probably soldiers.
The shocking data point, at least for me, was that anytime Israel fires a round of 5.56mm ball in Gaza, it will kill 97 kids, 17 expectant mothers, and 22 journalists, in this case, there was no claim of civilian casualties made by Venezuela while fessing up to a couple of dozen dead soldiers.
While President Trump and Chief of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Caine made it clear at Saturday's press conference that no Americans were killed and no equipment was lost, the issue of those injured was not addressed. We now have the answer to that question. Seven members of the assault force were injured. Five of those have returned to duty. Two are at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio. Brooke AMC is the only War Department hospital with a certified Level I Trauma Center. None of this means the men were seriously injured. Brooke AMC was selected in advance as the hospital for casualties; anyone would be sent there, regardless of the severity of their wounds or injuries. At this time, nothing more is known about the two hospitalized soldiers.
Back to Galloway's puzzlement. The Cuban armed forces are crap. They have deteriorated from the fairly brutal force in the 1980s that wreaked havoc in Central America and East Africa. The Cubans fought a very competent South African Army to a standstill at the Battle of Cuito Cuanavale in Angola. The battle was fought intermittently between 14 August 1987 and 23 March 1988 and involved artillery, attack aircraft, and attack helicopters. Now it is a typical Third World thuggery that is only useful for suppressing dissent among a cowed and unarmed populace.
With Delta, you get men who would be classified as world-class athletes, honed to a razor's edge by constant training and deployments. Open source literature by Delta veterans indicates each member of one of the assault squadrons is going to fire hundreds of rounds of ammunition each week. That number climbs into the thousands during peak training times. This is how they clear buildings. Note, the blue muzzles and magazines indicate they are using simulated ammunition. The quality of the equipment and training facility, along with the teamwork, means this is a Tier 1 special forces unit.
Watching professionals perform Free Flowing CQB is about as good as it gets.
— Green Beret Nap Time (@GBNT1952) January 18, 2025
These are not your average operators. pic.twitter.com/L3x48FLayc
From the roster, it seems clear that Maduro's security detail was at least partially composed of older officers who found Caracas nightlife more fun than Havana's. As I laid out in the timeline in You Don't Have to Like It to Admire the Tactical and Political Mastery of Trump's Maduro Coup – RedState, by the time the sound of explosions registered on Maduro's brain, Delta had landed and was on their way to his bag him. Most of his security force was undoubtedly asleep, and many were probably dead before they perceived what was happening.
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