Cuban Security Advisers and Doctors Leaving Venezuela Amid US Pressure: Report

Cuban security advisers and medical personnel are reportedly leaving Venezuela as a result of sustained pressure from the United States, according to at least 11 sources cited in a Reuters report.

Analysts say the development could represent an effective strategy by the administration of US President Donald Trump to drive a wedge between long-time allies Caracas and Havana.

Four of the sources told Reuters that Venezuela’s interim president Delcy Rodríguez is now relying on domestic bodyguards for her security. Previously, both she and former president Hugo Chávez had depended on elite Cuban security forces for protection.

Cuba’s government has stated that 32 Cuban soldiers and bodyguards were killed during a US operation on January 3 that allegedly aimed to detain President Nicolás Maduro in Caracas.

The Cuban personnel had been deployed under a security agreement signed between Caracas and Havana in the late 2000s. Under that arrangement, Cuban intelligence operatives were deeply embedded within Venezuela’s armed forces and its powerful counterintelligence agency, known as DGCIM.

A former Venezuelan intelligence official told Reuters that several Cuban advisers have been removed from within DGCIM. Two sources said that in recent weeks, some Cuban medical workers and security advisers have flown back to Cuba.

A source close to Venezuela’s ruling party said the departures were ordered by Rodríguez herself in response to mounting US pressure.

However, other sources could not confirm whether the Cubans were forced out by Venezuela’s interim government, left voluntarily, or were recalled by Havana.

Alejandro Velasco, associate professor of history at New York University and a Venezuela specialist, said Cuban influence had been essential to the survival of the Chávez government.

The reported removal of Cuban personnel from presidential security and counterintelligence structures has not previously been disclosed, and neither Caracas nor Havana has officially confirmed the broader scope of the reported withdrawals.