A stolen boat, a deadly gunfight and a supposed plot against Cuba
Frances Robles And Patricia Mazzei
KeyWest: The men arrived in Cuban waters on a speedboat apparently stolen from the Florida Keys the night before.
The Cuban government said 10 Cubans left the United States on a Florida-registered ship equipped with assault rifles, handguns, improvised explosive devices, bulletproof vests, telescopic sights and camouflage uniforms. The government said their goal when they arrived on Wednesday (Cuban time) was “to carry out infiltration for terrorist purposes.”
The government claimed that they opened fire on the Cuban coast guard. 4 people died and 6 people were injured in the conflict.
A day later, few details about the deadly gunfight emerged, raising questions about who the men were and how and why they sailed to the Cuban coast. Were they freelance militants with a poorly prepared plan? Is it part of a trap carefully set by the Cuban government at a time when tensions with the USA are increasing?
The incident was the latest in a decades-long, often contentious history between the Cuban government and militant exiles determined to overthrow it. For years, Cuban exiles have tried to infiltrate Cuba; They planted bombs in Havana; and even planned to assassinate Fidel Castro.
One of the survivors was initially mistakenly identified as 31-year-old activist Roberto Azcorra Consuegra, who fled Cuba in 2017 and was answering calls from reporters at his home in Miami this week.
The addition of Azcorra’s name to the list of detainees raised questions about what the Cuban government knew about the conspiracy. Experts said that the fact that his name was known, even though he was not on the boat, indicates that government officials may have been aware of the operation in advance.
After the Cuban government shot down two planes belonging to the exiled Brotherhood Organization in 1996, it quickly became apparent that a Cuban intelligence agent had infiltrated the organization and was aware of the planned attack.
“I was so-called jailed, detained and injured,” Azcorra said in an interview Wednesday night. On Thursday, Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernández de Cossio issued a statement acknowledging the error.
Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel used social media to reaffirm Cuba’s sovereignty. “Cuba will defend itself with determination and determination against any terrorist and mercenary attacks aimed at affecting its sovereignty and national stability,” he said.
Azcorra described himself as an activist determined to overthrow the 67-year-old communist government by methods that go beyond picketing and slogans, but said he could not discuss the matter further without first hiring a lawyer. He did not say whether he knew the men, but acknowledged that the Cuban government must have taken his name because they expected him to be on the stricken ship.
Azcorra said adding his name was “not a mistake.”
“They know very well who I am,” he said. “They either confused me with someone else or thought I would be there.”
Cuban authorities identified the other survivors aboard the Florida-registered speedboat as Amijail Sánchez González, Leordan Cruz Gómez, Conrado Galindo Sariol, José Manuel Rodríguez Castelló, Roberto Álvarez Ávila, and Christian Acosta Guevara. The government said another man, Duniel Hernández Santos, had arrived in Cuba before the conflict.
Four more men died. These people were identified as Pavel Alling Peña, Michel Ortega Casanova, Héctor Cruz Correa and Ledián Padrón Guevara.
At least two of the men, including one who died, were U.S. citizens. One of them had a fiancée visa and the others were believed to be lawful permanent residents, according to a U.S. official.
“They are brave men,” Azcorra said.
Public records show most of the men live in Florida, but Acosta is listed as a resident of Texas.
U.S. court records show that some of these men committed minor traffic or vehicle-related crimes. Cuban authorities said some of the men had criminal histories but did not release documents to support those claims.
Ortega, one of the dead, was a truck driver who had lived in the United States for a long time, his brother-in-law said.
A 25-foot boat they were traveling in was reported stolen Wednesday from Big Pine Key in the Lower Florida Keys, according to the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office. On Thursday, sheriff’s deputies and agents from the Department of Homeland Security were on property where the owner kept the vessel.
The boat’s owner told police he first noticed the boat was missing Wednesday morning and saw a white Chevy truck belonging to one of his employees, a tile worker, parked on the property, according to the police report. He assumed his employee had taken the boat without permission. The owner of the boat returned later in the day after news emerged about the boat’s registration number. He then went to the police.
The Monroe County Sheriff’s Office identified the owner of the truck as 42-year-old Héctor Cruz Correa and called him a “suspect” in the theft of the boat. Cuban authorities later named Cruz Correa, who had two children in Cuba, as one of the dead men.
Delivery van driver Galindo, 58, was among those injured, according to the Cuban government. He left his home in Miami around noon Sunday and never returned, according to his wife, Ana Seguí.
“He told me he was going to work,” she said.
When he didn’t come back, he tried calling but his phone appeared to be switched off. Then on Wednesday, she heard the Cuban government say her husband was one of the men captured on the boat.
Camagüeyli said Galindo left Cuba in 2016 after being detained on the island for eight years. He never returned.
Standing on the front porch of their modest Miami home, Segui looked exhausted and miserable. He said he didn’t know if the Cuban government’s statement was accurate and was waiting to learn more. He said no US officials came to see him.
“I don’t know how this came to be,” he said, adding that Galindo did not own the guns and was not interested in them. “Weapons, what weapons?” he said.
Her husband had been a guest on a radio program at least twice. Inspiring Voices on US-funded Radio Martí. Galindo is introduced as a former political prisoner who served time in prison alongside well-known activist Jorge Luis García Pérez (also known as Antúnez), who interviewed him on the program. Galindo told García that only covert activities would attempt to overthrow the government.
Another person the Cuban government said was detained, Sánchez González, had been accused of inciting violence in Cuba in the past from Florida, according to news reports at the time. According to a report, in 2022, Cuban authorities said that a prisoner in Cuba confessed to his crimes and that Sánchez reached out to him on social media and made him commit the crime.
Fernández de Cossio said both Sánchez and Cruz Gómez were wanted in Cuba and their names were given to US authorities in 2023 and 2025, but they still “benefited from impunity.”
Marcell Felipe, a prominent leader in the Cuban exile community in Miami, said the gunfight on the boat reminded him of previous incidents in which the Cuban government accused Miami exiles of plotting terrorism on the island.
“What I know is that this is not the first time the Cuban regime has carried out an operation organized by Cuban intelligence,” Felipe said.
“These operations are never carried out solely by agents of the regime. They are carried out by agents of the regime who round up willing participants and send them to their deaths,” he said.
Wednesday’s episode comes amid an extraordinarily tense moment between the two countries. The Trump administration cut off fuel imports to Cuba in an attempt to paralyze the government.
The country is experiencing the worst economic crisis in recent years.
Fernández de Cossio said Thursday that the United States had shown its “willingness” to help Cuba clarify the issue.
“The investigation is being carried out with great care to clarify the facts,” he said. “Cuba has the duty and responsibility to protect its territorial waters.”
This article was first published on: New York Times.
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