President Trump sent shockwaves around the world when he ordered the capture of Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro.
But the operation exposed something even bigger.
And Cuba just got caught red-handed doing something that will have Trump calling the shots.
Thirty-Two Dead Cubans Expose Decades of Intelligence Control
Cuba admitted that 32 of its citizens were killed during Trump's military operation to seize Maduro in Caracas.
Havana declared two days of national mourning for what it described as members of the island's armed forces and intelligence services.
The communist regime didn't specify where these operatives were stationed during the raid.
But their deaths blew the lid off years of reporting about Cuba's covert control over Venezuela's military and intelligence apparatus.
Venezuelan political analyst Jorge Jraissati told Fox News Digital that Cuba's intelligence role was critical to keeping both Hugo Chávez and later Maduro in power.
"Experts usually link Cuba as the most important intelligence provider of Venezuela," Jraissati explained.¹
That includes running elections, building diplomatic leverage with other countries, and keeping security forces in check.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed what intelligence officials have known for years.
"It was Cubans that guarded Maduro," Rubio stated. "He was not guarded by Venezuelan bodyguards. He had Cuban bodyguards."²
Maduro trusted Cuban operatives more than his own Venezuelan security forces.
That's how deep the infiltration ran.
Secret 2008 Agreements Gave Cuba Total Access to Venezuelan Military
A Reuters investigation published in August 2019 uncovered two confidential agreements signed in 2008 that granted Cuba sweeping access to Venezuela's armed forces and intelligence services.³
The agreements authorized Cuban officials to train Venezuelan troops, restructure intelligence agencies, and help build an internal surveillance system focused on monitoring Venezuela's own military.
Those arrangements transformed Venezuela's military counterintelligence agency — the General Directorate of Military Counterintelligence (DGCIM) — into a force designed to detect dissent, instill fear within the ranks, and ensure loyalty to the government.
The United Nations Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Venezuela reviewed the 2008 memorandum and confirmed the agreement provided for Cuban advisory oversight in restructuring Venezuelan military intelligence.⁴
That included creating new agencies, training counterintelligence officers, and providing assistance with surveillance and infiltration techniques.
Former Venezuelan officials described Cuban advisers embedded across the country's most sensitive institutions.
This included the civilian intelligence service SEBIN, DGCIM, the defense ministry, ports and airports, and Venezuela's national identification system.
Human rights organizations say those structures were central to the government's response to mass protests in 2014 and 2017.
Venezuelan security forces carried out widespread arrests and deadly crackdowns on demonstrators.
The U.N. fact-finding mission documented patterns of extrajudicial executions, arbitrary detention, and torture.
Cuban advisers helped train Venezuelan personnel in methods used to track, interrogate, and repress political opponents.
Trump Just Cut Off Cuba's Lifeline
Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One that Cuba is "ready to fall" after losing its Venezuelan cash cow.
"Cuba literally is ready to fall," Trump stated. "They got all of their income from Venezuela, from the Venezuelan oil. They're not getting any of it."⁵
For decades, Cuba depended on massive aid packages from oil-rich Venezuela for the island's survival.
Trump's operation to capture Maduro severed that lifeline in one surgical strike.
"I think it's just going to fall. I don't think we need any action. Looks like it's going down. It's going down for the count," Trump added when asked about potential U.S. action in Cuba.⁶
The president noted that "a lot of Cubans were killed" during the operation — those 32 intelligence operatives who were protecting Maduro.
Rubio made clear that if he "lived in Havana" and was "in the government," he'd be "concerned."⁷
Cuba's communist leadership denounced the strikes as "state terrorism," acutely aware that both Trump and Rubio have openly questioned how long the Cuban government should remain untouched.
Representative Mario Díaz-Balart (R-FL) promised during a news conference that Cuba and Nicaragua's days are numbered.
"The first of those tyrannies has not survived President Trump," Díaz-Balart declared. "The next two, their days are also counted."⁸
The Trump Administration has Cuba's communist regime in its crosshairs.
And with Venezuela's intelligence network exposed and its dictator sitting in a New York jail cell, Cuba just lost its most important security partner.
Maduro's capture proves Trump means business when it comes to rooting out America's enemies in our own hemisphere.
The decades-long alliance between Havana and Caracas built on surveillance, repression, and communist control just came crashing down.
And Cuba's 32 dead intelligence operatives are proof that Trump won't tolerate foreign adversaries manipulating governments 90 miles from American shores.
¹ Jorge Jraissati, quoted in Efrat Lachter, "Cuba's shadow in Venezuela: Havana's intelligence and military ties exposed after Maduro raid," Fox News, January 5, 2026.
² Marco Rubio, quoted in "Trump says Cuba is 'ready to fall' after capture of Venezuela's Maduro," Fox News, January 5, 2026.
³ Reuters investigation, "Special Report: How Cuba taught Venezuela to quash military dissent," Reuters, August 22, 2019.
⁴ United Nations Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Venezuela, as cited in Efrat Lachter, "Cuba's shadow in Venezuela," Fox News, January 5, 2026.
⁵ Donald Trump, quoted in "Trump says Cuba is 'ready to fall' after capture of Venezuela's Maduro," Fox News, January 5, 2026.
⁶ Ibid.
⁷ Marco Rubio, quoted in "Nicolas Maduro arrives in New York after capture," Fox News, January 3, 2026.
⁸ Mario Díaz-Balart, quoted in "Nicolas Maduro arrives in New York after capture," Fox News, January 3, 2026.