Jan. 20, 2026
[from weekly newsletter about Cuba (with YouTube video links) from the Belly Of The Beast news/video collective.]
Donald Trump has boasted about the killing of 32 Cuban security personnel who died at the hands of U.S. Special Forces during the January 3 abduction of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. Trump called the Cubans “thugs and extortionists” who held Venezuela hostage for many years.
Yunio Estévez Samón, one of those killed in the U.S. attack, was neither a thug nor an extortionist. He was a 32-year-old cryptographer and a dedicated family man who has left behind a wife and three children. Belly of the Beast journalist Liz Oliva Fernández interviewed Claudia Rafaela, a close friend of Yunio’s, who talked about his death and the life he was building before it was cut short. See the interview.
Meanwhile, last week in Havana, thousands of Cubans joined in mourning alongside the families of those killed in Venezuela. And many more took to the streets to denounce U.S. aggression in a massive pro-government march to the U.S. Embassy.