Cuban military officers said to play a role in Venezuelan security affairs

Former General Antonio Rivero, a member of opposition Voluntad Popular (People's Will) party, asserted that some 300 officials from the Cuban Revolutionary Armed Force are taking part in strategic decisions made in security and defense in Venezuela, according to information provided by sources in the Bolivarian National Armed Forces (FANB).

Rivero stressed that some 210,767 Cuban citizens have come to Venezuela since 1997 to join the defense sector and the judiciary. Nearly 83% of those Cubans have remained in the country for at least one year.

"This literally represents an army of occupation threatening the stability of the region, as the FANB is composed of and organized by a foreign armed force, which is fully aware of the elements comprising our national defense system," Rivero remarked. He showed pictures of Cuban high-ranking officer Leonardo Arnoldo Valdés, along with other Cuban generals checking some papers on defense actions across the national territory. "Why is there an official of the Cuban Force receiving this sort of information? This is a clear violation of our sovereignty," Rivero stressed.