Cuba counts cost of alliance after 32 troops killed in VenezuelaWatch: Public pay their respects to Cubans killed in Venezuela during US raidFrom sunrise, throngs of military personnel, government officials and civilians lined the route between Havana's airport and the Armed Forces Ministry to applaud home the remains of 32 Cuban troops killed in Venezuela as they passed by in a funeral cortege. The country's leadership – from Raul Castro to President Miguel Diaz Canel – were at the airport to receive the boxes carrying the cremated ashes of their "32 fallen heroes". In the lobby of the ministry building, each box was draped in a Cuban flag and set next to a photograph of the respective soldier or intelligence officer beneath the words "honour and glory". But despite the pomp and full military honours, this has been a chastening experience for the Cuban Revolution. First, it is believed to be the biggest loss of Cuban combatants at the hands of the US military since the Bay of Pigs invasion in April 1961. The fact that six-and-a-half decades have passed with barely a comparable firefight between Cuban and US troops, either during the Cold War or afterwards, shows how rare it is. It is not necessarily surprising that the better-trained and better-equipped Delta Force soldiers emerged virtually unscathed, especially given their elite reputation within the most powerful military in the world. Getty ImagesSome 32 Cubans were killed during the US military invention in VenezuelaBut that is of no comfort to the grieving family members as they tearfully placed their hands on the wooden boxes in Havana. Furthermore, in the days after the US military intervention in Venezuela and the forced removal of Nicolas Maduro from power, the Cuban Government was obliged to admit something it had long denied: the very existence of Cuban intelligence officers inside the corridors of power in Caracas. It is now clear, as it had been claimed for years by many in Venezuela, that Cubans have been present at every level of the country's security apparatus and that the bilateral intelligence arrangements were a crucial part of Cuba-Venezuela ties. In short, the Cuban Government has shared its years of experience of how best to maintain an iron grip on power with its Venezuelan partners. The 32 killed on Venezuelan soil were part of that shared strategy. In the wake of their deaths, though, Cubans can feel the sands shifting beneath their feet.
