The Cuban government has announced the death of 32 ⁠of its ​citizens during the raids by the United States military to abduct Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in Caracas.

Havana said on Sunday that there would be two days of mourning on ‌January 5 and ‌6 in ⁠honour of those killed and that ‌funeral arrangements would be announced.

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The state-run Prensa Latina agency said the Cuban “fighters” were killed while “carrying out missions” on behalf of the country’s military, at the request of the Venezuelan government.

The agency said the slain Cubans “fell in direct combat against the attackers or as a result of the bombing of the facilities” after offering “fierce resistance”.

The statement from Havana marked the first official acknowledgment of the deaths. Cuba is a close ally of Venezuela’s government has sent military and police forces to assist in operations in the Latin American country for years.

Following the US operation on Saturday, Maduro and his wife were flown to New York to face prosecution on drug related charges. The Venezuelan leader is due to appear in a court in the US city on Monday.

Maduro has denied criminal involvement.

Images of the 63-year-old president blindfolded and handcuffed by US forces stunned Venezuelans. The operation was Washington’s most controversial intervention in Latin America since the invasion of Panama 37 years ago.

Venezuelan Defense Minister General Vladimir Padrino said on state television the US attack killed soldiers, civilians and a “large part” of Maduro’s security detail “in cold blood”.

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Venezuela’s armed forces have been activated to guarantee sovereignty, he said.

US President Donald Trump, speaking to reporters on board Air Force One on Sunday, said that “there was a lot of death on the other side” during the US raids in Venezuela.

He said “a lot of Cubans” were killed and that there was “no death on our side”.

The US leader went on to threaten Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro, saying an American military operation in the Latin American country sounded good to him.

But he added that a US military intervention in Cuba is unlikely because the country appears to be ready to fall on its own.

“Cuba is ready to fall. Cuba, looks like it’s ready to fall. I don’t know how they , if they can hold that, but Cuba now has no income. They got all of their income from Venezuela, from the Venezuelan oil,” Trump said.

“They’re not getting any of it. Cuba literally is ready to fall. And you have a lot of great Cuban Americans that are going to be very happy about this.”