Venezuela’s military buries soldiers killed in Maduro operation

CARACAS, Venezuela — Venezuela’s military held a mass funeral in the country’s capital on Wednesday as it began to bury dozens of soldiers slain during the United States’ weekend operation to capture former President Nicolás Maduro.

Men carried wooden caskets cloaked in the Venezuelan flag past rows of uniformed officers. Singing echoed out from a nearby church in Caracas and music from a military orchestra ceremony echoed over the cemetery, while throngs of family members and soldiers marched behind a row of caskets.

As the caskets were lowered into the ground, gunfire from a military ceremony echoed out over the state-owned graveyard in a low-income neighborhood in the city’s south side. Earlier in the day, families cried and embraced next to the caskets during a wake.

“Thank you for letting them embrace a military career,” Rafael Murillo, a commander in the military, said to families surrounding him.

Before the ceremony, armed National Guard members patrolled some areas while families of the killed soldiers finished paperwork required for the burials.

At least 24 Venezuelan security officers were killed in the dead-of-night U.S. military operation over the weekend to capture Maduro and spirit him to the United States to face drug charges, according to Venezuela’s military.

Venezuela’s Attorney General Tarek William Saab said “dozens” of officers and civilians were killed and that prosecutors would investigate the deaths in what he described as a “war crime.” He didn’t specify if the estimate was specifically referring to Venezuelans.

Cuba’s government on Sunday announced that 32 Cuban military and police officers working in Venezuela had died in the operation, prompting two days of mourning on the Caribbean island.

“Their spilled blood does not cry out for vengeance, but for justice and strength,” the Venezuelan military wrote in an Instagram post on Monday. “It reaffirms our unwavering oath not to rest until we rescue our legitimate President, completely dismantle the terrorist groups operating from abroad, and ensure that events such as these never again sully our sovereign soil.”

Associated Press reporter Megan Janetsky contributed to this report from Mexico City.

委内瑞拉加拉加斯——周三，委内瑞拉军方在该国首都举行集体葬礼，开始埋葬数十名在美国周末抓捕前总统尼古拉斯·马杜罗的行动中丧生的士兵。

男人们抬着覆盖着委内瑞拉国旗的木棺，从一排排身着制服的军官面前走过。附近加拉加斯的一座教堂里传出歌声，军乐队的乐曲在墓地上空回荡，成群的家属和士兵跟在一排棺材后面行进。

棺木缓缓下葬时，军方举行的葬礼仪式鸣枪声响彻这座位于城市南区低收入社区的州立公墓。当天早些时候，家属们在守灵仪式上于棺木旁痛哭相拥。

“感谢你们让他们有机会投身军旅生涯，”军方指挥官拉斐尔·穆里略对围在他身边的家属们说道。

仪式开始前，荷枪实弹的国民警卫队成员在一些区域巡逻，而阵亡士兵的家属则完成了葬礼所需的文书工作。

据委内瑞拉军方称，周末美国军方在深夜展开军事行动，抓捕马杜罗并将其押送至美国接受毒品指控，至少有 24 名委内瑞拉安全官员在行动中丧生。

委内瑞拉总检察长塔雷克·威廉·萨博表示，数十名军官和平民丧生，检察官将对这些死亡事件展开调查，他称之为“战争罪行”。但他没有具体说明这一估计是否特指委内瑞拉人。

古巴政府周日宣布，32名在委内瑞拉工作的古巴军警人员在行动中丧生，这引发了加勒比海岛国古巴为期两天的哀悼。

委内瑞拉军方周一在Instagram上发帖称：“他们流下的鲜血并非呼唤复仇，而是呼唤正义和力量。这再次重申了我们坚定不移的誓言：我们将竭尽全力，直至救出我们合法的总统，彻底瓦解在境外活动的恐怖组织，并确保此类事件不再玷污我们的主权领土。”

美联社记者梅根·贾内茨基从墨西哥城对此报道亦有贡献。