The mother of an 18-year-old Venezuelan soldier killed during a US operation to capture Nicolas Maduro has revealed his final words. Saul Pereira Martinez called his mother, Natividad Martinez, at around 2 a.m. on January 3, saying, 'I love you. It has begun.' He then asked her to care for his two younger brothers before the line went dead.
Martinez, a military academy student who had recently completed training, was on guard duty at Fort Tiuna when 'Operation Absolute Resolve' commenced. The US mission, which President Donald Trump claimed was carried out without casualties, resulted in at least 83 deaths, including 47 Venezuelan soldiers and 32 Cuban security guards, according to Venezuela's defence ministry.
Speaking at her son's grave, Natividad Martinez criticised the operation, stating, 'You can't come to my country and kill people like that. Because [they said] it was a clean operation. It wasn't clean.' Her husband, a police officer who declined to be named, noted that Maduro's location was a closely guarded secret, suggesting an insider tipped off US intelligence.
Martinez described her son as a patriot who had turned his life around through military service. He was posthumously promoted and buried in a cement tomb adorned with yellow, blue, and white flower petals. 'Those who died are also human beings,' she said. 'They are all Venezuelans. On one side or the other, they are all human beings; they all have people who mourn them.'
Maduro was extracted to New York City to face narco-terrorism charges, to which he pleaded not guilty, insisting he remains Venezuela's rightful leader.
