Venezuela’s disputed and embattled president, Nicolas Maduro, is so fearful of his own people that he has called on Cuban guards to serve as his security detail, a top U.S. military official said.

Navy Adm. Craig S. Faller, commander of U.S. Southern Command, testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday that Maduro, fearing for his own safety, has “completely surround[ed]” himself with Cuban security. “I think it’s a good sense of where the loyalty of the Venezuelan people are, that his immediate security force is made up of Cubans,” Faller told the committee.

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