Key Highlights
- “Thank you for letting them embrace a military career,” a military commander, Rafael Murillo, said to families surrounding him at the cemetery on the city’s south side.
- The men were honored with a gun salute as the caskets were lowered into the ground and their loved ones wailed.
- Armed National Guard members patrolled parts of the cemetery for hours before and during the ceremony that followed an emotional wake.
- The funeral came a day after acting President Delcy Rodríguez declared a seven-day mourning period for the fallen officers.
- Venezuela’s military has said at least 24 Venezuelan officers were killed in Saturday’s dead-of-night US military operation to capture Maduro and first lady Cilia Flores and spirit them to New York to face drug charges.
