Cuban forces kill four aboard Florida-based speedboat
Daniel Trotta
Updated ,first published
Havana: Cuban forces killed four people and injured six others aboard a Florida-based speedboat that entered Cuban waters and opened fire on a patrol on Wednesday, the Cuban government said, amid rising tensions with the United States.
The injured were evacuated and medical intervention began. The Cuban Ministry of Internal Affairs said in a statement that the Cuban patrol commander was also injured and that the matter was under investigation to clarify what exactly happened.
The highly unusual incident occurred amid tensions between Cuba and the United States, which has blocked nearly all oil shipments to the island, increasing pressure on the communist-run government.
American forces captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in Caracas on January 3, removing a key Cuban ally from power.
Cuba said the speedboat came within one nautical mile (1.8 kilometers) of a channel in Falcones Cay on the island nation’s north coast and was approached by five members of the Cuban border patrol about 200 kilometers east of Havana.
The statement stated that the speedboat then opened fire, wounding the commander of the Cuban ship.
The identity of the dead or injured on the attacked ship was not determined, but Cuba said that the ship was registered in Florida with the number FL7726SH.
“Faced with current challenges, Cuba reaffirms its determination to protect its territorial waters based on the principle that national defense is a fundamental basis for preserving the sovereignty and stability of the Cuban state in the region,” Cuba said in a statement.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who was visiting St Kitts and Nevis in the region, told reporters he was aware of the incident and that the United States was currently working to determine whether the victims were American citizens or permanent residents.
“There are a variety of different elements of the US government that are trying to determine elements of the story that are not available to us at this time,” Rubio said while at St Kitts’ Basseterre airport.
“Suffice it to say, it is extremely unusual to see this type of conflict on the high seas. It’s not something that happens every day,” he said.
US Vice President J.D. Vance said he received information about the incident from Rubio and that the White House was monitoring the situation, but declined to provide further details.
“Hopefully it’s not as bad as we feared,” Vance said.
Florida attorney general James Uthmeier said he has instructed prosecutors to work with federal, state and law enforcement partners to launch an investigation.
He wrote of X: “The Cuban government cannot be trusted and we will do everything we can to hold these communists accountable.”
New York TimesThe news, based on an unnamed US official, reported that the incident involved a US civilian boat that was part of a fleet used to take relatives out of Cuba, and stated that the ship was not a US Navy or Coast Guard boat. However, intelligence later confirmed that a single boat had been attacked.
Meanwhile, Florida congressman Carlos Gimenez condemned the killings and accused the Cuban government of murder.
“This regime should be thrown into the dustbin of history!” He wrote to X.
It is not uncommon for clashes between the Cuban Coast Guard and U.S.-flagged speedboats to break out in Cuban waters, but there have been no recent reports of passengers shooting or dying.
In recent years, some of the US-flagged boats were heading towards the island, loaded with unidentified items, or would pick up Cubans and smuggle them to the US.
U.S. Coast Guard officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Pentagon and the Department of Homeland Security referred questions to the State Department, but the department did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment.
The incident took place at a time when tensions were rising between the United States and Cuba following increasing pressure from the Trump administration. The two countries were cooperating on drug trafficking and other crimes but have since stopped doing so.
