Venezuela's military buries soldiers slain in US operation to capture Maduro

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — 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.”

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