LISBON, Portugal (AP) — Spain is deploying a further 500 soldiers to battle wildfires that have torn through parched woodland during a prolonged spell of scorching weather, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said Sunday.
The decision to add to the more than 1,400 troops already on wildfire duty came as authorities struggled to contain forest blazes, especially in the northwestern Galicia region, and awaited the arrival of promised aircraft reinforcements from other European countries.
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A man battles a wildfire in Veiga das Meas, northwestern Spain, Saturday, Aug. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Lalo R. Villar)
A firefighting plane drops water over a wildfire in Veiga das Meas, northwestern Spain, on Saturday, Aug. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Lalo R. Villar)
Firefighters battle a wildfire in Veiga das Meas, northwestern Spain, Saturday, Aug. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Lalo R. Villar)
Two women walk with their heads covered to protect from the sun during extreme hot weather in Madrid, Spain, Sunday, Aug. 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Paul White)
A woman shields her face from the sun with a fan during extreme hot weather in Madrid, Spain, Sunday, Aug. 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Paul White)
Firefighters battle a wildfire in Veiga das Meas, northwestern Spain, Saturday, Aug. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Lalo R. Villar)
Firefighters battle a wildfire in Veiga das Meas, northwestern Spain, Saturday, Aug. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Lalo R. Villar)
Firefighters are tackling 12 major wildfires in Galicia, all of them near the city of Ourense, the head of the Galician regional government Alfonso Rueda told a press conference with Sánchez.
“Homes are still under threat so we have lockdowns in place and are carrying out evacuations,” Rueda said. Galicia has been battling the spreading flames for more than a week.
Temperatures in Spain could reach 45 Celsius (113 Fahrenheit) in some areas Sunday, the Spanish national weather agency AEMET said. On Saturday, the maximum temperature was 44.7 C (112.46 F) in the southern city of Cordoba, it said.
“This Sunday, when extraordinarily high temperatures are expected, the danger of wildfires is extreme in most of the country,” AEMET said on the social platform X.
The fires in Spain this year have burned 158,000 hectares (390,000 acres), according to the European Union’s European Forest Fire Information System. That is an area roughly as big as metropolitan London.
Europe has been warming twice as fast as the global average since the 1980s, according to the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service. Scientists say that climate change is exacerbating the frequency and intensity of heat and dryness in parts of Europe, making the region more vulnerable to wildfires.
Spain was expecting the arrival of two Dutch water-dumping planes that were to join aircraft from France and Italy already helping Spanish authorities under a European cooperation agreement.
Firefighters from other countries are also expected to arrive in the region in coming days, Spain’s Civil Protection Agency chief Virginia Barcones told public broadcaster RTVE.
National rail operator Renfe said it suspended Madrid-Galicia high-speed train services scheduled for Sunday due to the fires.
Galician authorities advised people to wear face masks and limit their time spent outdoors to avoid inhaling smoke and ash.
Portugal is set for cooler weather in coming days after a spate of severe woodland fires. A national state of alert due to wildfires was enacted Aug. 2 and was due to end Sunday, a day before two Swedish firefighting planes were to arrive.
As in Spain, Portugal’s resources have been stretched. On Sunday, more than 4,000 firefighters and more than 1,300 vehicles were deployed, as well as 17 aircraft, the country’s Civil Protection Agency said.
The scorched area of forest in Portugal so far this year is 17 times higher than in 2024, at around 139,000 hectares, according to preliminary calculations by the Institute for the Conservation of Nature and Forests, a government body.
Greece, Bulgaria, Montenegro and Albania have also requested help from the EU’s firefighting force in recent days to deal with forest fires. The force has already been activated as many times this year as in all of last year’s summer fire season.
In Turkey, where recent wildfires have killed 19 people, parts of the historic region that includes memorials to World War I's Gallipoli campaign were evacuated Sunday as blazes threatened homes in the country’s northwest.
Six villages were evacuated as a precautionary measure, the governor of Canakkale province, Omer Toraman, said.
Some 1,300 firefighting personnel backed by 30 aircraft were battling the blaze, according to the General Directorate of Forestry.
A wildfire on the peninsula to the north of the Dardanelles Strait led to the closure of visitor facilities at Gallipoli, the site’s management said. The area is dotted with cemeteries, memorials and other remnants of battles waged between Ottoman and Allied troops in 1915.
Turkey has been struck by hundreds of fires since late June, fueled by record-breaking temperatures, dry conditions and strong winds.
AP reporter Andrew Wilks in Istanbul contributed to this story.
A man battles a wildfire in Veiga das Meas, northwestern Spain, Saturday, Aug. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Lalo R. Villar)
A firefighting plane drops water over a wildfire in Veiga das Meas, northwestern Spain, on Saturday, Aug. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Lalo R. Villar)
Firefighters battle a wildfire in Veiga das Meas, northwestern Spain, Saturday, Aug. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Lalo R. Villar)
Two women walk with their heads covered to protect from the sun during extreme hot weather in Madrid, Spain, Sunday, Aug. 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Paul White)
A woman shields her face from the sun with a fan during extreme hot weather in Madrid, Spain, Sunday, Aug. 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Paul White)
Firefighters battle a wildfire in Veiga das Meas, northwestern Spain, Saturday, Aug. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Lalo R. Villar)
Firefighters battle a wildfire in Veiga das Meas, northwestern Spain, Saturday, Aug. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Lalo R. Villar)
HAVANA (AP) — Trumpets and drums played solemnly at Havana's airport Thursday as white-gloved Cuban soldiers marched out of a plane carrying urns with remains of the 32 Cuban officers killed during a stunning U.S. attack on Venezuela.
Nearby, thousands of Cubans lined one of Havana’s most iconic streets to await the bodies as the island remained under threat by the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump.
The soldiers' shoes clacked as they marched stiff-legged into the headquarters of the Ministry of the Armed Forces and placed the urns on a long table next to the pictures of those killed. Tens of thousands of people paid their respects, saluting the urns or holding their hand over their heart, many of them drenched from standing outside in a heavy downpour.
Thursday’s mass funeral was only one of a handful that the Cuban government has organized over the past half-century.
The soldiers were part of the security detail of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro during the Jan. 3 raid on his residence to seize the former leader and bring him to the U.S. to face drug trafficking charges.
State television also showed images of what it said were more than a dozen wounded combatants from the raid, accompanied by Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez after arriving Wednesday night from Venezuela. A man identified in state media as Col. Pedro Domínguez attended Thursday's ceremony in a wheelchair.
He said it was a “disproportionate attack” that killed 11 colleagues around him as they slept. Domínguez said he was committed to doing “whatever it takes to defend this people and to remain united in the face of threats from the United States.”
Tensions between Cuba and the U.S. have spiked, with Trump recently demanding that the Caribbean country make a deal with him before it is “too late.” He did not explain what kind of deal.
Trump also has said that Cuba will no longer live off Venezuela's money and oil. Experts warn that the abrupt end of oil shipments could be catastrophic for Cuba, which is already struggling with serious blackouts and a crumbling power grid.
Officials unfurled a massive flag at Havana's airport as President Miguel Díaz-Canel, clad in military garb, stood silent next to former President Raúl Castro, with what appeared to be the relatives of those killed looking on nearby.
Cuban Interior Minister Lázaro Alberto Álvarez Casas called the slain soldiers “heroes” of an anti-imperialist struggle spanning both Cuba and Venezuela. In an apparent reference to the U.S., he said the “enemy” speaks of “high-precision operations, of troops, of elites, of supremacy.
“We, on the other hand, speak of faces, of families who have lost a father, a son, a husband, a brother,” Álvarez said.
The events demonstrate that “imperialism may possess more sophisticated weapons; it may have immense material wealth; it may buy the minds of the wavering; but there is one thing it will never be able to buy: the dignity of the Cuban people,” he said.
Carmen Gómez, a 58-year-old industrial designer, was among the thousands of Cubans who lined a street where motorcycles and military vehicles thundered by with the remains of those killed.
“They are people willing to defend their principles and values, and we must pay tribute to them,” Gómez said. “It’s because of the sense of patriotism that Cubans have, and that will always unite us.”
The 32 military personnel ranged in age from 26 to 60 and were part of protection agreements between the two countries.
Officials in Cuba have said they expect a massive demonstration Friday across from the U.S. Embassy to protest the deaths.
“People are upset and hurt ... many do believe that the dead are martyrs” of a historic struggle against the United States, analyst and former diplomat Carlos Alzugaray told The Associated Press.
In October 1976, then-President Fidel Castro led a massive demonstration to bid farewell to the 73 people killed in the bombing of a civilian flight financed by anti-revolutionary leaders in the U.S. Most of the victims were Cuban athletes.
In December 1989, officials organized a ceremony to honor the more than 2,000 Cuban combatants who died in Angola during Cuba’s participation in a war that defeated the South African army.
In October 1997, memorial services were held following the arrival of the remains of guerrilla commander Ernesto “Che” Guevara and six of his comrades, who died in 1967.
The latest mass burial is critical to honor those slain, said José Luis Piñeiro, a 60-year-old doctor who lived for four years in Venezuela.
“I don’t think Trump is crazy enough to come and enter a country like this, ours, and if he does, he’s going to have to take an aspirin or some painkiller to avoid the headache he’s going to get,” Piñeiro said. “These were 32 heroes who fought him. Can you imagine an entire nation? He’s going to lose.”
The remains arrived a day after the U.S. announced $3 million in additional aid to help the island recover from the catastrophic Hurricane Melissa. The first flight took off on Wednesday, and a second flight was scheduled for Friday. A commercial vessel also will deliver food and other supplies.
Cuba had said on Wednesday that any contributions will be channeled through the government.
But U.S. State Department foreign assistance official Jeremy Lewin said Thursday that the U.S. was working with Cuba’s Catholic Church to distribute aid, as part of Washington's efforts to give assistance directly to the Cuban people.
“There’s nothing political about cans of tuna and rice and beans and pasta,” he said Thursday, warning that the Cuban government should not intervene or divert supplies. “We will be watching, and we will hold them accountable.”
Lewin said the Cuban government has a choice to: “Step down or better provide towards people.” Lewin added that “if there was no regime,” the U.S. would provide “billions and billions of dollars” in assistance, as well as investment and development: “That’s what lies on the other side of the regime for the Cuban people.”
Rodríguez, the Cuban foreign minister, said the U.S. government was “exploiting what appears to be a humanitarian gesture for opportunistic and politically manipulative purposes.”
Coto contributed from San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america
People line up outside the Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces where the remains are on display of the Cuban officers who were killed during the U.S. operation in Venezuela that captured President Nicolas Maduro, as it sprinkles rain in Havana, Cuba, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
Military members line up outside the Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces where the urns containing the remains of Cuban officers, killed during the U.S. operation in Venezuela that captured President Nicolas Maduro, are on display in Havana, Cuba, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
Military members pay their last respects to Cuban officers who were killed during the U.S. operation in Venezuela that captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, at the Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces where the urns containing the remains are displayed during a ceremony in Havana, Cuba, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
A motorcade transports urns containing the remains of Cuban officers, who were killed during the U.S. operation in Venezuela that captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, through Havana, Cuba, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
Soldiers carry urns containing the remains of Cuban officers, who were killed during the U.S. operation in Venezuela that captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, at the Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces in Havana, Cuba, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (Adalberto Roque /Pool Photo via AP)
A motorcade transports urns containing the remains of Cuban officers, who were killed during the U.S. operation in Venezuela that captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, through Havana, Cuba, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
A motorcade transports urns containing the remains of Cuban officers, who were killed during the U.S. operation in Venezuela that captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, through Havana, Cuba, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
People line the streets of Havana, Cuba, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, to watch the motorcade carrying urns containing the remains of Cuban officers killed during the U.S. operation in Venezuela that captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
Workers fly the Cuban flag at half-staff at the Anti-Imperialist Tribune near the U.S. Embassy in Havana, Cuba, Monday, Jan. 5, 2026, in memory of Cubans who died two days before in Caracas, Venezuela during the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro by U.S. forces. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
