US forces killed at least 55 Venezuelan and Cuban military and security personnel during the raid that led to the capture and ouster of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, according to official tolls released by Caracas and Havana on Tuesday.Venezuela’s military confirmed for the first time that 23 of its service members were killed in Saturday’s US attacks. Authorities have not yet released an official figure for civilian casualties. Cuba said 32 members of its armed forces and interior ministry security personnel deployed in Caracas died in the operation.The Cuban casualties ranged in age from 26 to 67 and included two colonels and one lieutenant colonel. Venezuelan defense minister Vladimir Padrino López said many of the Cuban personnel killed were believed to be part of Maduro’s security detail, which was largely wiped out during the assault.The operation began with bombing raids on military targets and ended with US special forces landing by helicopter to seize Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, from a compound. Both were flown to New York, where they appeared in court on Monday and pleaded not guilty to drug trafficking and other charges.Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum on Tuesday urged Washington to ensure Maduro receives a “fair trial”.Within hours of the court appearance, Maduro’s former deputy Delcy Rodríguez was sworn in as interim president. US President Donald Trump said he was willing to work with Rodríguez provided she met his demands to allow US companies access to Venezuela’s oil reserves.Rodríguez now faces the challenge of navigating US pressure while keeping Maduro loyalists within the security establishment on her side. She has sought to project unity with hardliners in the former administration, including Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello and Padrino López, both of whom have retained their posts.Concerns over repression persisted as a journalists’ union reported that 14 journalists and media workers, most of them from foreign outlets, were detained while covering Rodríguez’s inauguration at parliament on Monday. Two other foreign media journalists were detained near the Colombian border. All were released later.Opposition leader María Corina Machado criticized Rodríguez in an interview with Fox News, saying she could not be trusted. “Delcy Rodriguez as you know is one of the main architects of torture, persecution, corruption, narcotrafficking,” Machado said. “She’s the main ally and liaison with Russia, China, Iran, certainly not an individual that could be trusted by international investors.”Trump has publicly backed Rodríguez so far but warned she would face consequences if she failed to follow Washington’s agenda. He described Maduro on Tuesday as a “violent guy” who “killed millions of people” and claimed, “They have a torture chamber in the middle of Caracas that they are closing up.”Under Venezuela’s constitution, once Maduro is formally declared absent, elections must be held within 30 days. Machado said she was confident of victory in such a vote. “In free and fair elections, we will win by over 90 percent of the votes, I have no doubt about it,” she told Fox News.She pledged to “turn Venezuela into the energy hub of the Americas”, “dismantle all these criminal structures” and “bring millions of Venezuelans that have been forced to flee our country back home”. Machado also said she would give her Nobel prize to Trump, though she added that she has not spoken to the US president since October 10.
