Four people killed aboard a Florida-registered speed boat following an alleged shootout with the Cuban coast guard were US residents, local officials said.
The deceased were among a group of ten ‘armed’ individuals who had entered the country’s waters to carry out a terror attack, Cuba’s government claimed in a statement issued Wednesday night.
Six others aboard the vessel were reportedly injured after they exchanged gunfire with the coast guard, per the Ministry of the Interior of Cuba.
Michel Ortega Casanova was identified as one of the fatalities, with local authorities reportedly working to identify the three others.
The injured were detained and named as Amijail Sánchez González, Leordan Enrique Cruz Gómez, Conrado Galindo Sariol, José Manuel Rodríguez Castelló, Cristian Ernesto Acosta Guevara and Roberto Azcorra Consuegra, according to the Cuban government.
The group was armed with guns, Molotov cocktails and tactical gear, according to the statement which claimed the majority of those on the boat have ‘a known history of criminal and violent activity’.
The ministry specifically said González and Gómez are wanted by Cuban authorities ‘based on their involvement in the promotion, planning, organization, financing, support or commission of actions carried out in the national territory or in other countries, in connection with acts of terrorism’.
The Cuban Coast Guard killed four people in a Florida-registered speedboat after the vessel crossed into the nation’s waters and opened fire, Cuban officials said. A stock image of a Cuban Coast Guard vessel is pictured, not the vessel in Wednesday’s incident
The Cuban government further claimed Duniel Hernández Santos was detained within the national territory and ‘confessed’ to being sent by the US ‘to facilitate the reception of the armed infiltration’.
The incident unfolded Wednesday morning, when the speedboat approached one nautical mile northeast of the El Pino channel in the Villa Clara province, according to the Cuban Embassy.
It added that Border Guard Troops confronted the speedboat, leading the crew of the Florida-registered boat to open fire on the Cuban personnel.
Authorities said they later seized assault rifles, handguns, Molotov cocktails, bulletproof vests, telescopic sights, and camouflage uniforms from the boat.
But speaking ahead of the update, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio downplayed Cuba’s version of events, vowing that the United States Department of Homeland Security and the US Coast Guard will conduct their own investigations.
‘We’re not gonna base our conclusions on what they told us,’ he said, insisting that the boat was not in international waters as part of a US government operation.
Rubio then said he was not ‘going to speculate about whose boat it was, what they were doing, why they were there, what actually happened.’
Still, he vowed that the US will ‘respond appropriately based on what our information tells us.’
Secretary of State Marco Rubio has downplayed Cuba’s version of events
Vice President JD Vance also said late Wednesday afternoon that Rubio had briefed him on the incident. He added that the White House was monitoring the situation.
‘Hopefully it´s not as bad as we fear it could be,’ Vance said.
The shootout now threatens to increase tensions between the US and Cuba, following President Trump’s authorization of a mission last month to capture Nicolás Maduro, the former leader of Venezuela.
Venezuela and Cuba have been close allies for decades, with Venezuela being the main exporter of crude oil and fuel to the island.
For weeks, the US has been intercepting and seizing oil tankers headed for Cuba, though the Trump administration has not acknowledged it is instituting a blockade.
Last week, the US Coast Guard seized a tanker 70 miles away from the island that was full of Colombian oil, The New York Times reported.
There are indications that the Trump administration wants to go further and pursue regime change.
Trump himself has made numerous statements hinting that he wants the Cuba’s Communist leadership gone.
The Cuban government claimed that those aboard the vessel were intent on traveling to the country to enact terrorism. Pictured: Cuba’s President and First Secretary Miguel Diaz-Canel
In late January, The Wall Street Journal reported that officials close to the administration have been discussing ousting Miguel Díaz-Canel, 65, who has led the country since 94-year-old Raúl Castro retired as president in 2021.
Officials familiar with the plans were focused on waiting for Cuba’s economy to collapse, making a possible operation easier to accomplish.
However, it broke on Wednesday that the Trump administration is now allowing American companies to resell Venezuelan oil to private companies in Cuba. The new guidance came from the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control.
‘This favorable licensing policy is directed towards transactions that support the Cuban people, including the Cuban private sector (e.g., exports for commercial and humanitarian use in Cuba),’ the office said.
The Daily Mail has reached out to the State Department and the White House for comment on Cuba’s claims.
