Exodus Of Cuban Forces Reshapes Venezuela's Military Balance After Maduro's Capture: 'Their Word Was the Final Authority'

Hundreds of Cuban security personnel have begun leaving Venezuela in the weeks following Nicolás Maduro's January 3 capture by U.S. troops, according to intelligence sources and diplomatic officials. Their departures mark a shift in a two-decade security alliance that saw Cuban advisers embedded deep inside Venezuela's military and intelligence structures.

U.S. estimates have suggested that as many as 25,000 Cuban personnel — including intelligence officers, soldiers and security advisers — rotated through Venezuela under agreements dating back to Hugo Chávez. In exchange for subsidized oil shipments, Havana provided expertise that officials and analysts say was critical to maintaining internal control.

"The influence was absolutely essential" to the survival of the Chavista government, Alejandro Velasco, a professor at New York University, told Infobae.

At the center of that influence was a little-known operation known as Unit 105, described in a Venezuelan intelligence memorandum shared with U.S. officials and reported by The Miami Herald as the "technological brain" of the country's surveillance state. Operating from the Fuerte Tiuna military complex in Caracas, the unit fused signals intelligence and human intelligence to monitor communications, track dissent and oversee segments of Venezuela's armed forces.

The structure operated under dual authority. Cuban officers provided technical expertise and analytical direction, while Venezuelan agencies conducted arrests and interrogations based on the intelligence collected. According to the memorandum, Cuban technical commanders held decisive authority inside the system — "their word was the final authority regarding the credibility of a threat."

The January 3 operation that led to Maduro's capture reportedly destroyed Unit 105's central headquarters and damaged key infrastructure. The memorandum warns, however, that elements of the network survived, with mirror servers and sensitive data allegedly relocated to civilian sites. "What remains is an information guerrilla," the report states.

Thirty-two Cuban security personnel were killed during the operation that led to Maduro's capture, according to Cuban authorities. Since then, Cuban advisers assigned to the presidential guard and counterintelligence units have been withdrawn or reassigned. Interim President Delcy Rodríguez is now relying primarily on Venezuelan bodyguards.

Analysts caution that while the visible Cuban presence is shrinking, the network is unlikely to disappear entirely. Some advisers remain embedded, and others may operate covertly. "This is not the end of Cuban influence," one intelligence source said. "It's a transformation."