Four people killed aboard a Florida-registered boat following an alleged shootout with the Cuban coast guard were US residents, local officials said.
The deceased and six others who were injured in the shootout were of Cuban descent and were approaching the country as part of a terrorist plot, Cuba’s government claimed in a statement issued Wednesday night.
Michel Ortega Casanova was identified as one of the victims, with local authorities reportedly working to identify the three others.
Meanwhile, the six others who were injured on the boat have been detained, the Ministry of the Interior of Cuba claimed on social media.
It claimed that the majority of the 10 people on the boat ‘have a known history of criminal and violent activity.’
The ministry specifically said Amijail Sánchez González and Leordan Enrique Cruz 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 government further claimed Duniel Hernandez Santos ‘confessed’ to being sent by the US ‘to facilitate the reception of the armed infiltration.’
Others onboard the ship included Conrado Galindo Sariol, José Manuel Rodríguez Castelló, Cristian Ernesto Acosta Guevara and Roberto Azcorra Consuegra, Cuban authorities said.
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 Embassy said on X that the incident unfolded Wednesday morning, when the speedboat approached one nautical mile northeast of the El Pino channel in the Villa Clara province.
The embassy said Border Guard Troops confronted the speedboat, leading the crew of the Florida-registered boat to open fire on the Cuban personnel.
Authorities later seized assault rifles, handguns, Molotov cocktails, bulletproof vests, telescopic sights, and camouflage uniforms from the boat, the Ministry of the Interior of Cuba claimed.
But US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has 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.’
Earlier, Cuba´s Interior Ministry issued a statement saying that the boat was roughly 1 mile northeast of Cayo Falcones, off Cuba´s north coast. It then said the government was ‘safeguarding its sovereignty and ensuring stability in the region.’
Vice President JD Vance 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.
This is a breaking news story, please check back for updates.
