Cuban security advisers and doctors have been leaving Venezuela as Interim President Delcy Rodriguez assumes control, according to multiple sources cited by the South China Morning Post. The departures follow U.S. pressure to dismantle the island nation’s longstanding security and intelligence ties with Venezuela, a cornerstone of Latin America’s most consequential leftist alliance.
Unlike her predecessors, including the late Hugo Chavez and deposed Nicolas Maduro, Rodriguez has placed her personal protection under Venezuelan bodyguards rather than elite Cuban forces. Sources say Cuban advisers are being sidelined from key positions, including the presidential guard and the DGCIM, though some intelligence agents remain in the country to monitor developments.
The Cuban presence in Venezuela has historically been extensive. Over the past two decades, Havana embedded intelligence personnel throughout Venezuela’s military and counterintelligence units, while thousands of Cuban doctors, nurses, and sports coaches provided social services in exchange for Venezuelan oil. Thirty-two Cubans were reportedly killed in the U.S. operation to capture Maduro on January 3, highlighting the deep security ties between the two nations.
U.S. officials, including former President Donald Trump, have publicly pressed for the severing of the Cuba-Venezuela security relationship. A White House source told reporters that Rodriguez’s self-interest aligns with advancing U.S. objectives, part of a broader strategy aimed at weakening Cuba’s communist government through measures such as the oil blockade.
Despite the drawdown, some Cuban personnel remain active. Doctors continue to provide medical care, professors teach at Venezuela’s state university for police and security forces (UNES), and a limited number of military advisers are still stationed in the country. Experts note that the legacy of Cuba’s counterintelligence and “coup-proofing” efforts remains embedded within Venezuela’s security apparatus, sustaining the power of Maduro loyalists even as Rodriguez navigates a delicate political transition.
Analysts say Rodriguez is “treading very carefully,” maintaining a cautious distance from Cuba without fully severing ties, while U.S.-Cuba-Venezuela dynamics continue to shape the evolving security and political landscape in Caracas.
