Nearly 50 Venezuelan soldiers were among dozens of people killed in the US military operation that toppled strongman Nicolas Maduro this month, the defense ministry in Caracas said Friday.
Updating the toll from an initial 23, the ministry said 47 soldiers, of whom nine were women, lost their lives in the attack.
The total number of deaths stood at 83, according to Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez. They included 32 Cuban soldiers, some of whom had been assigned to Maduro’s protection team.
The total was revised downward from the figure of 100 fatalities released on January 7 by the interior ministry.
More than 112 people were injured in the assault that began with bombing raids on military targets and culminated with US special forces swooping in by helicopter to seize Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores from a compound.
“What have the men and women of our Bolivarian National Armed Forces done in the face of military aggression? They have given their lives, they have honored history and the homeland,” Padrino said at a ceremony Friday in honor of the fallen soldiers.
Interim president Delcy Rodriguez, a staunch defender of Maduro who took over after his ouster, decreed seven days of mourning for those killed in the January 3 attack.
Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello said this week experts were using DNA to identify victims, some of whom had been blown to “little pieces” in the US strike.
