BREAKING NEWS : Venezuela and Cuba name 55 military personnel, including senior officers, killed during the US raid to seize Nicolas Maduro. Venezuela’s Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez has said the presidential guard was largely wiped out “in cold blood…

US forces killed 55 Venezuelan and Cuban military personnel during their stunning raid to capture Nicolas Maduro, tolls published by Caracas and Havana showed Tuesday.

In the first confirmation of its losses, Venezuela’s military said 23 of its service members died in Saturday’s attacks by the United States, which led to the ouster of Maduro as the country’s leader. Caracas has yet to give an official figure for civilian casualties.

Cuba, which had already announced that 32 members of its armed forces and interior ministry security personnel assigned to duties in Caracas were killed in the raids, also listed its dead.

They ranged in age from 26 to 67 and included two colonels and one lieutenant colonel.

Many of the dead Cubans are believed to have been members of Maduro’s security detail, which was largely wiped out in the attacks, according to Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez.

The assault 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.

They were later taken to New York, where they appeared in court on Monday and pleaded not guilty to drug trafficking and other charges.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum on Tuesday called on the United States to ensure Maduro receives a “fair trial.”

Interim president’s challenges –

Hours after their court appearance, Maduro’s former deputy Delcy Rodriguez was sworn in as interim president.

US President Donald Trump said he is willing to work with her, as long as she submits to his demands on providing US companies access to Venezuela’s massive oil reserves.

Rodriguez faces a delicate balancing act in trying to respond to those demands while keeping Maduro loyalists on her side.

She has sought to project unity with the hardliners in Maduro’s administration, who control the security forces and powerful paramilitaries that have patrolled the streets in the days since the deposed leader’s capture.

In a sign that a repressive security apparatus remains in place, 14 journalists and media workers, most of them representing foreign media, were detained while covering the presidential inauguration at parliament on Monday, a journalists’ union said.

Two other journalists for foreign media were detained near the Colombian border.