Cuban Official Claims Military Officer Fired on U.S. Helicopter During Maduro Raid

In a recent statement, Cuban leader Miguel Díaz-Canel declared that a Cuban military officer successfully fired an anti-aircraft weapon at a U.S. Army helicopter during the operation to capture Nicolás Maduro.

While paying tribute to the 32 Cuban officers who perished in Caracas, Díaz-Canel highlighted the actions of a lieutenant colonel who, despite sustaining severe injuries, managed to strike the aircraft.

At the event held at the Anti-Imperialist Platform, the president praised the soldiers who "stood at the forefront" and returned to Havana with "their bodies riddled with shrapnel."

"Lieutenant Colonel Jorge Márquez was the one who hit the helicopter, and who knows how many of its crew members. He did it by firing his anti-aircraft weapon, even while bleeding heavily from a leg wound," Díaz-Canel explained.

"Courage is the word everyone uses to describe the confrontation," he added.

Jorge Márquez survived the encounter and returned to Cuba this week alongside other wounded soldiers.

The Cuban leader boasted about the "bravery" and "heroism" of the fighters, describing them as men who fought "to the last bullet."

During his speech, Díaz-Canel directly accused President Donald Trump of orchestrating a "cowardly attack" on Venezuela while its citizens were asleep, asserting that the Cubans acted with honor and dedication to their mission.

Recently, Trump publicly addressed the "Resolution Absolute" operation, praising it as a flawless military execution.

He claimed there were no U.S. casualties, although he acknowledged seven injuries, including a helicopter pilot with serious wounds, who he said was recovering well.

Trump also detailed the airborne entry, the descent by ropes, the raid on a fortified residence, and the swift capture of Maduro within minutes.

Beyond the contrasting narratives—Havana's heroic tale versus Washington's technical-military jargon—the facts present an uncomfortable reality for the Cuban regime: the 32 deceased were not engaged in a humanitarian cause or defending Cuba and its people.

They were part of the personal security detail for the Venezuelan leader, directly involved in supporting a dictator's apparatus.

The operation not only resulted in the detention of Maduro and his wife but also starkly exposed the extent of Cuban involvement in Venezuela.

For years, Havana denied or downplayed the presence of officers in sensitive military roles. However, the official account now must admit Cuban personnel were engaged in tasks directly related to protecting Venezuelan political power.

The revelation that 32 Cubans died alongside Maduro's security officials indicates they were not mere "collaborators," not defending Cuba or a humanitarian cause, but embedded within the defense structure of the chavista regime.

The hero narrative seeks to recast a mission to safeguard a foreign government as a revolutionary feat, yet the facts suggest otherwise: a profound, silent, and costly intervention in Cuban lives.

According to Pentagon data, the incursion involved about 200 U.S. military personnel and over 150 aircraft. Twenty-four Venezuelan security officials and 32 Cubans in the ex-leader's protective unit were killed. A helicopter was hit but remained airborne, and a cyberattack disrupted communications across much of Caracas.

Díaz-Canel insisted the combatants "fought to the death" and one shouted "Long live Cuba!" before being struck by a drone. However, his depiction—Cuban soldiers fighting to defend Maduro's power—confirms what had been denied for years: Havana had officers operating at the heart of Venezuelan presidential security.

Maduro's capture not only shifted the regional political landscape but also revealed the depth of the alliance between the two regimes and the Cuban lives lost for a strategy never publicly debated on the island.

Behind the epic rhetoric, mourning families and an increasingly undeniable truth remain: these soldiers died defending a foreign leader, not their homeland.