Open investigation after Cuba says four killed on US-registered speedboat
Cuba's government said an open investigation is under way after Cuban border guards shot dead four people aboard a Florida-registered speedboat, the interior ministry said. The ministry said the victims were Cuban nationals living in the United States and that six others were wounded.
What Cuba's interior ministry said
posted online, Cuba's interior ministry said the speedboat's passengers — the four who were killed and six others who were wounded, also Cuban citizens — opened fire on a coast guard vessel that approached them near an island off the country's northern coast on Wednesday. The ministry said the 10 individuals, some with previous criminal records, were armed and intended to "carry out an infiltration for terrorist purposes. " The ministry also said most of them "have prior records involving criminal and violent activity. "
Location and vessel details
In an earlier statement posted on X, the ministry said the Florida-registered vessel, with the registration number FL7726SH, was detected near Cayo Falcones, in the country's central Villa Clara province on Wednesday morning. When a Cuban boat carrying five members of the ministry's border guard approached the vessel for identification, "the crew of the violating speedboat opened fire" and wounded the Cuban commander, the statement said.
Open investigation and US response
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the US was also investigating the "highly unusual" incident and that investigators would move "quickly" to gather the key facts. Before the Cuban government released some of the passengers' identities, Rubio confirmed the boat was not carrying US government personnel and said an investigation was ongoing to "clarify" the event and what the passengers were doing in the area.
Weapons, arrests and detentions
The interior ministry said handguns, assault rifles and improvised explosive devices were recovered on the speedboat, along with other tactical gear. It said it had identified the six surviving passengers, who have since been detained, and one passenger who was killed. The ministry also identified an eleventh person they said had been arrested and had confessed to being part of the alleged plot.
Sequence of the confrontation and aftermath
"As a consequence of the confrontation, as of the time of this report, four aggressors on the foreign vessel were killed and six injured, " the interior ministry said. Those injured were evacuated and given medical assistance. The ministry described the incident as an attack on the approaching coast guard vessel.
Rubio's comments and context
Rubio, speaking from Saint Kitts and Nevis where he had travelled to meet with Caribbean leaders amid the Trump administration's push to ramp up pressure on Cuba's government as well as other regional issues, told reporters: "We're going to find out exactly what happened, who was involved, and we'll make a determination on the basis of what we find out. " He said the US Coast Guard has travelled to the "vicinity" of the attack, that US investigators would not rely on information provided by the Cuban government and that Washington would independently verify the facts of the case. He added: "It is highly unusual to see shootouts on the open sea like that. It's not something that happens everyday. "
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Authorities in Cuba have presented the interior ministry's account of events, and US officials have said they will carry out an independent investigation to establish what happened.
