Fifty-five Venezuelan and Cuban military personnel were killed during the extensive U.S. military assault that led to the capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, according to official casualty reports published by the governments of Caracas and Havana on Tuesday.
The raid, a combination of precision airstrikes and a daring special forces helicopter incursion, resulted in the ouster and extradition of Maduro, who now faces charges in a New York federal court.
The United States operation, which unfolded on Saturday, began with coordinated bombing raids on key military installations around Caracas. This aerial bombardment was followed by a ground assault involving U.S. Special Operations Forces, who descended via helicopter onto a fortified compound where Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were located.
Venezuela’s Ministry of Defense, in its first official acknowledgment of losses, confirmed that 23 Venezuelan service members died defending these sites and the presidential compound. Concurrently, the Cuban government released a detailed list confirming the deaths of 32 members of its armed forces and Ministry of the Interior security personnel who were stationed in Caracas.
The Cuban fatalities, ranging in age from 26 to 67, included two colonels and one lieutenant colonel. According to Venezuelan Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez, a significant number of the Cuban personnel were embedded within Maduro’s elite presidential security detail, which was “largely wiped out” during the intense firefight that accompanied the capture.
Maduro and Flores were swiftly transported to the United States following their capture. On Monday, they appeared before a judge in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, pleading not guilty to a multi-count indictment including charges of narcoterrorism, drug trafficking, and corruption. The rapid extradition and arraignment have sparked international debate. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum publicly called on the United States to ensure Maduro receives “a fair trial,” highlighting diplomatic concerns over the precedent set by the cross-border military operation.
Hours after Maduro’s court appearance, the Venezuelan National Assembly, still dominated by members of the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), swore in Maduro’s former Vice President, Delcy Rodríguez, as the nation’s interim president. Rodríguez, a longtime loyalist and a central figure in Maduro’s government, immediately faces a complex political labyrinth.
U.S. President Donald Trump issued a statement expressing a conditional willingness to work with Rodríguez. “We can have a relationship, a good one, if they do what’s right,” Trump said, explicitly tying any cooperation to Venezuela granting U.S. oil corporations unfettered access to the country’s vast petroleum reserves, the largest in the world. He followed with a stark warning, stating Rodríguez would pay “a very big price, probably bigger than Maduro” for non-compliance.
To consolidate her fragile position, Rodríguez has made no immediate changes to Maduro’s cabinet. Key power brokers—including Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello, who controls the intelligence services and party apparatus, and Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez, who commands the military—retain their posts. This continuity suggests Rodríguez’s immediate priority is to appease the hardline chavista factions that control the country’s coercive instruments. The durability of this alliance is uncertain, given the competing pressure from Washington.
The U.S.-orchestrated transition has notably marginalized the U.S.-recognized democratic opposition. In an interview with Fox News, opposition leader María Corina Machado launched a scathing attack on the new interim president. “Delcy Rodríguez, as you know, is one of the main architects of torture, persecution, corruption, narcotrafficking,” Machado stated. “She’s the main ally and liaison with Russia, China, Iran—certainly not an individual that could be trusted.”
Machado, who polls indicate would be the overwhelming favorite in a free election, expressed unwavering confidence. “In free and fair elections, we will win by over 90 percent of the votes, I have no doubt about it.” She outlined an ambitious platform to transform Venezuela into “the energy hub of the Americas,” dismantle state-linked criminal networks, and facilitate the return of millions of refugees. In a symbolic gesture, she also offered to cede her Nobel Peace Prize—an award President Trump has long openly desired—to the American leader, while noting she has had no direct contact with him since mid-October.
Despite the change in leadership, mechanisms of state control appear undisturbed. The National Union of Press Workers reported that on Monday, during Rodríguez’s inauguration, 14 journalists and media workers—most of them from international outlets—were detained by security forces. Two other foreign journalists were held near the Colombian border. All were released after several hours, but the incidents signal that the oppressive security apparatus remains fully operational.
Venezuela’s constitution stipulates that if the president is permanently unavailable, the vice president assumes power temporarily, and a new presidential election must be organized within 30 consecutive days. Whether Rodríguez’s administration will adhere to this timeline, or seek to consolidate power in a more permanent arrangement under the guise of a transition, is a critical open question.
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