Cuba Says It Is Communicating With US After Opening Fire on Speedboat, Killing 4

Cuba’s deputy foreign minister, Carlos Fernández de Cossío, said on Feb. 26 that Havana is in communication with officials in the United States following an incident in which a Florida-registered boat was fired on, killing four people.

Cuba’s Ministry of the Interior said that on Feb. 25, a Florida-registered speedboat carrying 10 armed Cuban exiles from the United States opened fire on soldiers off the island’s north coast, and that troops responded, killing four suspects and injuring six others. One Cuban official was also injured, the ministry said.

Cuba has accused those on the boat of planning to invade the island and unleash terrorism.

Cossío said assault rifles, pistols, sniper rifles, night vision equipment, bayonets, camouflage clothing, and communication equipment were found on the boat, along with “a large number of insignia from counterrevolutionary terrorist organizations.”

Cuba “has a duty and responsibility to protect its territorial waters. Our actions are consistent with international law, which applies to all countries, including the United States itself,” he said.

He said the communist regime was keen to exchange information with the United States about those on the boat and what preparations they made before embarking on the trip to Cuban waters, adding that the U.S. government had shown willingness “to cooperate in clarifying the facts.”

The Cuban regime named one of the dead men on the boat as Michel Ortega Casanova.

Cuba says two of those who were captured on board the boat were Amijail Sánchez Gonzalez and Leordan Enrique Cruz Gomez, who were wanted by the authorities in Havana, “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.”

A third man, identified as Duniel Hernandez Santos, was alleged by Cuba to have been “sent from the United States to guarantee the reception of the armed infiltration, who at this time has confessed to his actions.”

The Epoch Times was unable to independently verify those details.

A report from Monroe County Sheriff’s Office in Florida said a 24-foot boat had been stolen from Big Pine Key in the Florida Keys.

It stated that the owner told authorities he lives in Miami-Dade County but keeps his boat at a Big Pine Key house, whose owner allows him to keep it in exchange for construction work. The report states that the man reported the boat stolen after receiving calls from reporters and said he had not seen his 24-foot boat docked at the property in more than a week.

‘Highly Unusual,’ Rubio Says

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Feb. 25 that the United States was gathering information about the incident.

“Suffice it to say, it is highly unusual to see shootouts in open sea like that,” he told reporters. “It’s not something that happens every day. It’s something, frankly, that hasn’t happened with Cuba in a very long time.”

Cuba’s communist regime still commemorates the Bay of Pigs invasion in April 1961, when Cuban exiles, trained in the United States, tried unsuccessfully to overthrow Cuban leader Fidel Castro.

While speaking in the Caribbean state of St. Kitts and Nevis, Rubio, who is the son of Cuban immigrants, said he was made aware of the incident by the Cuban regime.

“We’re going to find out exactly what happened here and then we’ll respond accordingly,” Rubio said, adding that the Department of Homeland Security, the Coast Guard, and other agencies are involved in investigating the incident.

U.S. Vice President JD Vance said on Feb. 25 he had been briefed on the incident by Rubio, adding that the White House is monitoring the situation.

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier has directed state officials to investigate the incident.

The incident comes amid heightened tensions between the United States and Cuba in the wake of last month’s U.S. military capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, who was an ally of the Cuban regime. The Trump administration has also been restricting trade to Cuba for the regime’s close ties to China, Iran, and Russia.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.