Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla was among the attendees at an event in Venezuela honoring the 32 Cuban Communist Party agents killed during the arrest of deposed Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro.
Rodriguez appeared alongside interim Venezuelan President Delcy Rodriguez at the ceremony Thursday in Caracas.
"Cuba comes to pay heartfelt tribute to the Cuban combatants who in unequal combat faced the imperialist enemy that desecrated the sovereignty of the Venezuelan homeland and protected the constitutional president, Nicolas Maduro Moros," the Cuban foreign minister said.
"The Bolivarian and Chavista Revolutions and the Cuban Revolution in their shared destinies and common struggle will serve as examples for the liberation of the peoples of our America."
"We will continue our work in defense of peace, in international mobilization, in the campaign to defend international law and the right to life and peace of all peoples, for the release of constitutional President Nicolas Maduro Moros and comrade Cilia Flores," he said.
The interim Venezuelan president also praised those killed in the attack.
"Like one people, they fought defensively before the illegal and illegitimate aggression. We are united in love; our concept of fatherland is that the fatherland is humanity," she said.
"No one surrendered here. There was combat — combat for our homeland, for our liberators."
Maduro and his wife were captured by the U.S. military on Saturday morning and flown to New York. They pleaded not guilty Monday to federal drug trafficking charges.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants to the U.S., said on NBC News' "Meet the Press" that Cuba's government has been a "huge problem" for the U.S.
"I think they're in a lot of trouble, yes," Rubio said.
"I'm not going to talk to you about what our future steps are going to be and our policies are going to be right now in this regard, but I don't think it's any mystery that we are not big fans of the Cuban regime, who by the way, are the ones that were propping up Maduro," he added.
Sam Barron ✉
Sam Barron has almost two decades of experience covering a wide range of topics including politics, crime and business.
© 2026 Newsmax. All rights reserved.