The mother of a young Venezuelan soldier killed during a controversial US military operation to capture the country's deposed leader has broken her silence, revealing the haunting final words she shared with her son.
The Final Phone Call
In the early hours of January 3, 2026, as US air strikes lit up the Caracas sky with fire and smoke, 18-year-old soldier Saul Pereira Martinez called his mother, Natividad Martinez, 38. "I love you. It has begun," he told her, according to an interview with CBS News. He repeated his love and urged her to care for his two young brothers, aged two and nine, before the line went dead. It was the last time she heard his voice.
Saul Martinez, a military academy student who had completed his initial training with the Honor Guard just the previous December, had finished his guard shift at Fort Tiuna. Unbeknownst to him, the fort was housing former president Nicolas Maduro that very night, making it the target of "Operation Absolute Resolve." Martinez was killed during the mission.
A Contested 'Clean' Operation
His death exposes the human toll of an intervention ordered by then-President Donald Trump, which was claimed to have been achieved without casualties. In reality, Venezuela's defence ministry states the operation resulted in the deaths of at least 83 people, including 47 Venezuelan soldiers and 32 Cuban security guards.
Visiting her son's grave at the General Cemetery of the South on January 18, 2026, with her husband and Saul's girlfriend, Natividad Martinez challenged the official narrative. "You can’t come to my country and kill people like that," she said. "Because [they said] 'it was a clean operation.' It wasn’t clean. Do you know how many people died?"
Her husband, a police officer and government security official who asked not to be named, described the terror of that night, hearing explosions and fearing for Saul's safety given his likely proximity to Maduro. He suggested only an insider could have revealed Maduro's secret location to US intelligence, calling his stepson's death "a collateral effect."
A Life of Promise Cut Short
Natividad Martinez shared that her son had joined the military with a childhood friend, who was also wounded in the leg during the operation at La Carlota air base. She said the discipline of the armed forces had transformed Saul, turning him away from idle pursuits towards dedicated study and even helping clean the family home when on leave.
In the aftermath of the attack, she went to Fort Tiuna with his usual food package, only to find him missing. She later had to demand answers from his battalion as news of fatalities emerged. "They had to tell me," she recalled.
Saul Pereira Martinez was posthumously promoted for his service. He now rests in a cement tomb adorned with his name spelled out in yellow, blue, and white flower petals.
"Those who died are also human beings," his mother told CBS. "They are all Venezuelans. On one side or the other, they are all human beings; they all have people who mourn them." Despite the controversy, she expressed pride: "He died for his country. Regardless of what they say, to me, my son was a patriot, and that’s what matters to me."
Meanwhile, the target of the operation, Nicolas Maduro, was extracted from Venezuela with his wife, Cilia Flores, and taken to New York City to face narco-terrorism charges. He has pleaded not guilty in a Manhattan court and continues to insist he is Venezuela's rightful leader.
