{"id":41217,"date":"2026-02-21T15:04:27","date_gmt":"2026-02-21T15:04:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=41217"},"modified":"2026-02-21T15:04:27","modified_gmt":"2026-02-21T15:04:27","slug":"cuban-security-forces-exit-venezuela-as-us-pressure-mounts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=41217","title":{"rendered":"Cuban security forces exit Venezuela as US pressure mounts"},"content":{"rendered":"
Cuban security advisers and doctors have been leaving Venezuela as Interim President Delcy Rodriguez’s government faces intense pressure from Washington to unwind Latin America\u2019s most consequential leftist alliance, according to 11 sources familiar with the matter.<\/p>\n

Venezuela\u2019s Interim President Delcy Rodriguez has entrusted her protection to Venezuelan bodyguards, according to four of the sources, unlike deposed president Nicolas Maduro and his predecessor, the late president Hugo Chavez, who both relied on elite Cuban forces.<\/p>\n

Thirty-two Cubans were killed in the US\u00a0military attack that captured Maduro on January 3, according to the Cuban government. These soldiers and bodyguards were part of a deep security agreement between Caracas and Havana that began in the late 2000s in which Cuban intelligence agents embedded throughout the military and Venezuela\u2019s\u00a0formidable DGCIM counterintelligence unit, which was fundamental to weeding out domestic opposition.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Cuban influence was absolutely essential\u201d to the survival of the Chavista government, said Alejandro Velasco, an associate professor of history at New York University and an expert on Venezuela.<\/p>\n

Read More:\u00a0Trump says Maduro to face justice, US will run Venezuela until ‘safe’ transition<\/p>\n

Inside DGCIM, some Cuban advisers have been removed from their posts, according to a former Venezuela intelligence official. Some of the Cuban medical workers and security advisers have travelled from Venezuela to Cuba on flights in recent weeks, two of the sources said.<\/p>\n

One source close to Venezuela\u2019s ruling party said the Cubans were departing on the orders of Rodriguez due to US\u00a0pressure. The other sources were not clear on whether the Cubans were being forced to leave by the new Venezuelan leadership, departing of their own accord, or being summoned home by Havana.<\/p>\n

The decision to sideline Cubans from the presidential guard and the counterintelligence unit has not been previously reported.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Trump want end to Venezuela-Cuba ties\u00a0<\/p>\n

Prior to the operation to remove Maduro, thousands of Cuban doctors, nurses and sports coaches worked in Venezuela as part of welfare programs begun under Chavez. In exchange, Venezuela provided Cuba with a source of much-needed oil.<\/p>\n

Following the US\u00a0attack, US\u00a0President Donald Trump vowed to end the security relationship between Venezuela and Cuba. \u201cCuba lived, for many years, on large amounts of OIL and MONEY from Venezuela. In return, Cuba provided \u2018Security Services\u2019 for the last two Venezuelan dictators, BUT NOT ANYMORE!,\u201d he wrote on Truth Social on January 11.<\/p>\n

In response to questions about US\u00a0pressure on Venezuela to cut ties with Cuba, a White House official said the US\u00a0has \u201ca very good relationship with the leaders of Venezuela\u201d and that it believes that Rodriguez\u2019s \u201cown self-interest aligns with advancing our key objectives.\u201d<\/p>\n

Severing Venezuela\u2019s relationship with Cuba is part of Washington\u2019s broader strategy of toppling Havana\u2019s communist-run government. Since mid-December, Washington has blockaded Venezuela from shipping oil to Cuba, economically strangling the island.<\/p>\n

Also Read:\u00a0Trump escalates Venezuela offensive with covert ops, military buildup<\/p>\n

The US\u00a0government is \u201ctalking to Cuba, whose leaders should make a deal,\u201d the official said.<\/p>\n

The Cuban government has said it is open to dialogue on equal terms, while condemning the oil blockade and vowing to resist US\u00a0intervention.<\/p>\n

Neither the Cuban nor Venezuelan governments responded to requests for comment. The two countries have publicly affirmed their continued relationship.<\/p>\n

Rodriguez, the daughter of a former Marxist guerrilla, has been a longtime ally of Maduro and member of Venezuela\u2019s ruling Socialist Party. She\u2019s also personally close to the Cuban government, according to ten US\u00a0and Venezuelan sources.<\/p>\n

On January 8, Rodriguez appeared alongside Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez at a flower-laden memorial service in Caracas for the victims of the US\u00a0attack.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo the brave Venezuelan people, we express Cuba\u2019s deepest solidarity,\u201d Bruno Rodriguez said at the event, before uttering the rallying cry of one of the leaders of the Cuban revolution, Ernesto \u201cChe\u201d Guevara: \u201cHasta la victoria siempre.\u201d<\/p>\n

Later in January, Delcy Rodriguez also spoke by phone with Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel, saying afterwards that the two countries remained \u201cunited.\u201d Diaz-Canel, after the same call, said Cuba was committed to \u201ccontinue strengthening the historic relations of brotherhood and cooperation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Regarding the relationship between the two countries, the White House official said: \u201cPresident Trump understands that they have to make certain statements for domestic political reasons.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Flights back to Cuba\u00a0<\/p>\n

A source familiar with the Cuban government\u2019s thinking said that some military personnel injured in the US\u00a0attack have returned to Cuba, but that others have remained active in Venezuela. The source also said many Cuban doctors continue to provide care in Venezuela.<\/p>\n

Cuba\u2019s state-run media in early January said a suspension of commercial flights and closure of Venezuelan airspace had caused a backlog that prevented Cuba from bringing home doctors from vacations or for ending their missions in Venezuela. Those flights resumed the week after the January 3 US\u00a0attack, those reports said.<\/p>\n

A US\u00a0source familiar with the matter said that while the Cuban presence is diminishing, some undercover intelligence agents are likely to remain in the country to see how the political situation pans out.<\/p>\n

Frank Mora, who served as US\u00a0ambassador to the Organization of American States under the Biden administration, said \u201cRodriguez is treading very carefully.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cShe wants to keep the Cubans at a distance until this situation calms down, until her hold on power is clear, but not entirely throw them under the bus, either,\u201d Mora said.<\/p>\n

At least some Cuban military advisers are still working in Venezuela, four sources familiar with the matter said. Cuban professors also continue to teach at the state university for police and security forces, known as UNES, according to a former police officer.<\/p>\n

Read This:\u00a0Protest against ‘US attack’ on Venezuela<\/p>\n

John Polga-Hecimovich, a professor at the US\u00a0Naval Academy in Maryland who has studied the role of Cuban security advisers in Venezuela, said the legacy of the Cuban counterintelligence effort is still evident in Caracas, where Maduro\u2019s top loyalists remain in power.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Cubans didn\u2019t manage to protect Maduro, but they played a key role in keeping the Chavista government in power,” Polga-Hecimovich said. \u201cThe coup-proofing worked brilliantly.\u201d<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cuban security advisers and doctors have been leaving Venezuela as Interim President Delcy Rodriguez’s government faces intense pressure from Washington to unwind Latin America\u2019s most consequential leftist alliance, according to 11 sources familiar with the matter. Venezuela\u2019s Interim President Delcy Rodriguez has entrusted her protection to Venezuelan bodyguards, according to four of the sources, unlike […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41217","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41217","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=41217"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41217\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=41217"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=41217"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=41217"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}