The capture by US forces of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro and the killing in the operation of 32 Cubans assigned to protect him represent a major blow for the island’s revered intelligence services, experts say.Fearful of betrayal by dissenters within Venezuela’s ranks, the leftist Maduro — like his late mentor Hugo Chavez — sourced his security detail in communist-ruled Cuba.But the Cubans proved little match for the US special forces sent by helicopter to snatch Maduro from a military compound after US jets had pummeled Venezuela’s air defenses.Of the 32 Cubans killed – along with 23 Venezuelan troops — 21 were from the Cuban interior ministry, which oversees the intelligence services, officials said.The remaining 11 were from Cuba’s military.Experts consulted by AFP agreed that the key to the seamless execution of the US operation — meticulously prepared for months, in complete secrecy — was the element of surprise.But former Venezuelan military officer Jose Gustavo Arocha of the Center for a Secure Free Society, a US think tank specializing in defense issues, also suggested that Cuba had misjudged the threat.Cuban intelligence “convinced the Maduro regime and its security agencies that the United States would never attack on Venezuelan territory,” Arocha said.Former US intelligence officer Fulton Armstrong, who is now a Latin America researcher at American University in Washington, also pointed to intelligence failures.Chief among them, he said, was the failure to anticipate the attack and then to detect helicopters entering Venezuela’s airspace.”Even a five- or 10-minute warning would have made a massive difference for the guards and for Maduro,” the former CIA agent said.US forces however had a major advantage in the form of stealth drones, used to monitor the Venezuelan leader’s movements in real time, as well as more advanced weapons and combat gear.Paul Hare, a former British ambassador to Cuba and Venezuela, argued that Cuban intelligence underestimated US access to “insider cooperation in Venezuela” — an informant within Maduro’s camp.Citing sources close to the operation, The New York Times reported that a CIA source within the Venezuelan government revealed Maduro’s location.The United States had issued a reward of $50 million for information leading to his capture.- Aura of invincibility – For decades, the Cuban secret service, trained during the Soviet era by the KGB, enjoyed a reputation for invincibility.Besides having foiled some 600 assassination attempts against late leader Fidel Castro, Cuba was reputed for its ability to infiltrate foreign intelligence services and recruit high-ranking informants, particularly Americans.The most recent case to come to light was that of Victor Manuel Rocha, a former US diplomat sentenced in 2024 to 15 years in prison after working for over four decades for the Cuban state.But Cuba “didn’t adequately read the Trump administration,” said Arocha, noting that the administration’s National Security Strategy unveiled in December clearly articulated Trump’s goal of asserting US dominance over Latin America.Washington had regularly denounced Cuba’s role, since the 2000s, in the Venezuelan security apparatus.The routine response from Caracas and Havana was that Cuba, in return for Venezuelan oil supplies, provided its ally with doctors and humanitarian workers. Arocha argued that “so many years… doing the same thing successfully” blinded the Cubans to Trump’s willingness to defy diplomacy and international law, so they did not see him coming.The Republican leader stunned the world by ordering the capture of the Venezuelan president in what his administration said was a law enforcement operation that did not require authorization from Congress.”All the capabilities of Cuban intelligence were blocked for the first time in the region… because their traditional methods became irrelevant against this new decision-making style,” Arocha said.

Local officials in Minneapolis slammed federal agencies Friday for excluding them from the probe into an immigration officer’s fatal shooting of a woman, as public outrage grew ahead of planned weekend protests.Officials in the midwestern state of Minnesota said their law enforcement agencies have been excluded from the investigation into the killing of motorist Renee Good, 37, by a federal immigration officer on Wednesday.A local prosecutor said Friday that federal investigators had taken Good’s car and shell casings from the scene.The Trump administration has sought to paint the victim as a “domestic terrorist,” insisting that the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent who fatally shot her was acting in self-defense.Cell phone footage apparently taken by the officer who fired the fatal shots shows him interacting with Good as he approaches and circles her car, and her saying, “I’m not mad at you.”After he passes in front of the car, another agent can be heard ordering Good to exit the vehicle before she tries to drive off and shots ring out.The agent filming the video can be heard saying “fucking bitch” at the end of the clip.The White House insisted the video gave weight to the officer’s claim of self-defense — even though the clip does not show the moment the car moved away, or him opening fire. “This is not the time to bend the rules. This is a time to follow the law…the fact that Pam Bondi’s Department of Justice and this presidential administration has already come to a conclusion about those facts is deeply concerning,” Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, a Democrat, told a briefing on Friday. “We know that they’ve already determined much of the investigation,” he said, adding that the state’s Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, within its department of public safety, has consistently run such investigations.”Why not include them in the process?” Frey said.On Thursday, US Vice President JD Vance said that the ICE officer, named in US media as Jonathan Ross, had “absolute immunity” — a claim disputed by local prosecutors.Court filings seen by AFP showed that in June 2025, Ross was dragged 100 yards (meters) along a road by a car driven by a man who was the subject of immigration enforcement activity.”When the FBI, when the federal agencies, say they won’t share evidence with the local authorities, the public can’t trust that it’s going to be a true, transparent investigation,” said local Patrick O’Shaughnessy, 43.- ‘Get out’ -Minnesota officials have said that local investigators were initially invited by the FBI to participate in the inquiry into the shooting of Good, but were subsequently blocked from taking part.Good was one of four people who have been killed by ICE since Trump launched his immigration crackdown. Good’s wife Becca Good told local media that they had gone to the scene of immigration enforcement activity to “support our neighbors.””We had whistles. They had guns,” she said.Local prosecutor Mary Moriarty, the Hennepin County attorney, said “our goal must be that a thorough investigation is completed at the local level.””The FBI currently has, for example, Ms Good’s car, the shell casings and witness interviews.”Moriarty unveiled an online evidence portal, calling for submissions so that all available leads could be compiled.The divide between local and federal authorities widened Friday when US Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins suspended the payment of $129.2 million in federal financial agriculture awards, according to a letter she posted to X.Federal authorities have openly clashed with Minnesota officials over allegations that Somali immigrants have committed large-scale fraud to extract public benefit funds, with Rollins accusing local officials of turning “a blind eye” to the problem. Protest action continued Friday with hundreds gathering at a federal facility that has become a focal point of anti-ICE demonstrations with at least one detention seen.Federal immigration officers armed with pepperball guns and tear gas clashed with the noisy crowd.There were some 1,000 weekend protest gatherings planned across the United States, according to organizers.

US President Donald Trump pressed top oil executives Friday to invest in Venezuela’s vast reserves, but was met with a cautious reception — with one major CEO dismissing the country as “uninvestable” without sweeping reforms.Trump told the industry leaders that his administration — not Caracas — would decide which firms are allowed to operate in Venezuela following the stunning capture of president Nicolas Maduro.”We’re going to be making the decision as to which oil companies are going to go in… (we’re) going to cut a deal with the companies,” Trump said at the White House, arguing that foreign firms had had no meaningful protections under Maduro. “But now you have total security. It’s a whole different Venezuela,” he added.Trump said oil companies would “deal with us directly,” signaling that the US government would attempt to cut the oil-rich, cash-poor Latin American nation completely out of the loop when it came to exploiting its own resources. Despite Trump’s assurances, ExxonMobil chief executive Darren Woods struck a note of skepticism.”We’ve had our assets seized there twice and so, you can imagine, to re-enter a third time would require some pretty significant changes,” he said. “If we look at the legal and commercial constructs and frameworks in place today in Venezuela — today, it’s uninvestable.”The White House meeting came less than a week after US forces seized Maduro, with Trump making no secret that control of Venezuela’s oil was central to his actions. Opening the session, he said the talks would focus on how US companies could rapidly rebuild the country’s dilapidated oil industry and boost production by millions of barrels a day.Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Energy Secretary Chris Wright attended alongside executives from Chevron, ExxonMobil, ConocoPhillips, Halliburton, Valero, Marathon, Shell, Trafigura, Vitol Americas and Repsol, among others.A spokesman for ConocoPhillips said CEO Ryan Lance appreciated the discussion about “preparing Venezuela to be investment ready.”Speaking after the meeting, Trump said participants had “sort of formed a deal,” but offered no specifics. He claimed oil companies were prepared to invest “at least 100 Billion Dollars.”- Rebuilding will ‘take time’ -Analysts told AFP that Trump’s push to revive Venezuela’s oil industry rests on shaky economic and strategic ground.Experts warned that vast reserves on paper do not translate into quick or profitable production, pointing to outdated infrastructure, political instability, heavy crude that is costly to extract, and investor unease in a world shifting away from fossil fuels.”There’s lots of talk about the size of the reserves — 300 billion barrels of proved reserves — but what’s often missing from the conversation is how realistic it is for those to be economically extracted,” said Rich Collett-White, an energy analyst at Carbon Tracker.After the talks, Wright — who has said Washington will control Venezuela’s oil industry “indefinitely” — admitted that it will “take time” to rebuild its infrastructure.- Further strikes cancelled -While Trump touts the country’s oil resources to US companies, Venezuela’s interim President Delcy Rodriguez has said her government remains in charge. The state oil company has said only that it was in negotiations with Washington.Chevron is currently the only US firm licensed to operate in Venezuela. ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips exited in 2007 after refusing demands by then-president Hugo Chavez to cede majority control to the state.In a social media post, Trump said he cancelled a second wave of strikes on Venezuela due to what he called “cooperation” from the country.Sanctioned by Washington since 2019, Venezuela sits on about a fifth of the world’s oil reserves and was once a major crude supplier to the United States.But it produced only around one percent of the world’s total crude output in 2024, according to OPEC, having been hampered by years of underinvestment, sanctions and embargoes.Trump sees the country’s massive oil reserves as a windfall in his fight to further lower US domestic fuel prices.