Boat That Opened Fire Was Carrying Cubans Living In U.S. Trying To Infiltrate Island, Cuba Says

HAVANA (AP) — The Cuban government said late Wednesday that 10 passengers on a boat that opened fire on its soldiers were armed Cubans living in the United States who were trying to infiltrate the island and unleash terrorism.

The announcement came just hours after Cuba said its soldiers killed four people and injured six others on a Florida-registered speedboat that entered Cuban waters and first opened fire on the soldiers.

The Cuban government said most of the 10 people on the boat “had a known history of criminal and violent activity.”

Two of them were identified as Amijail Sánchez González and Leordan Enrique Cruz Gómez; They are wanted by Cuban authorities “for their involvement in the promotion, planning, organization, financing, support or commission of acts carried out in connection with terrorist acts on national territory or in other countries.”

The government also stated that Duniel Hernández Santos was also arrested, adding that he was “sent from the United States to guarantee coverage for armed infiltration, and Santos has now confessed to his actions.”

The Cuban government said it obtained details about the passengers on the boat from the suspects detained after the conflict.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Below is AP’s earlier story.

HAVANA (AP) — Cuban soldiers killed four people and injured six others on a Florida-registered speedboat that entered Cuban waters and opened fire on the soldiers first, the Cuban government said Wednesday.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters that he had been notified of the incident and that the United States was gathering its own information to determine whether the victims were American citizens or permanent residents.

Rubio arrived in St. Petersburg, where he attended a regional summit with Caribbean leaders. “There are a variety of different elements of the U.S. government that are trying to determine elements of the story that are not available to us at this time,” Kitts said while at the Basseterre airport.

WE President Donald Trump The top diplomat refused to speculate on what was happening, saying “a wide range of things” could happen and that the United States would not rely solely on what Cuban officials have provided so far.

“Suffice it to say, it’s extremely unusual to see this type of conflict on the high seas. It’s not something that happens every day. Frankly, it’s something that hasn’t happened in Cuba in a very long time,” Rubio said.

The Cuban government said one Cuban officer was injured, four suspects were killed and six others were injured.

Rubio stated that both the Department of Homeland Security and the US Coast Guard are investigating the incident and emphasized that he wanted to verify the facts.

“The majority of the facts publicly disclosed are information provided by Cubans. As we gather more information, we will independently verify it and be prepared to respond accordingly,” Rubio said. “We will have our own information on this. We will find out exactly what happened.”

He said this was not a U.S. government operation and that he would not “speculate about whose boat it was, what they were doing, why they were there, and what actually happened.”

Rubio added: “We’ll know, and when we find out, we’ll tell you and we’ll do whatever needs to be done about it, depending on what happens.”

Rubio stated that he learned about the attack before the Cuban government published it on social media, and noted that the United States was in “constant contact” with the country at the “Coast Guard level”.

Earlier, Cuba’s Interior Ministry released a statement giving few details about the attack but said the boat was about 1 mile (1.6 kilometers) northeast of Cayo Falcones on Cuba’s north coast.

The government provided the boat’s registration number, but The Associated Press could not easily verify the boat’s details because boat registrations are not publicly available in the state of Florida.

It was not yet known what the boat and its occupants were doing in Cuban waters. In the statement, the ministry said the Cuban government “preserves its sovereignty and maintains stability in the region.”

Vice President J.D. Vance said Wednesday afternoon that Rubio briefed him on the incident. He added that the White House was monitoring the situation.

“Hopefully it’s not as bad as we feared,” Vance said.

Pull Threatens to increase tensions Between the USA and Cuba. Following the ouster of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, President Donald Trump and senior administration officials have taken an increasingly aggressive stance against Cuba. largely kept economically afloat With Venezuela’s oil.

The energy crisis that Cuba has grappled with in recent years reached new extremes last month when Trump signed an executive order that would impose tariffs on any country that sells or supplies oil to Cuba. The move put pressure on Mexico, on which Cuba has become heavily dependent for oil, after Trump halted oil shipments from Venezuela.

The top American diplomat says the Cuban government must make dramatic change because it is the only way to improve the quality of life of its citizens.

Rubio said the government must make “striking reforms that will open up space for both economic and, ultimately, political freedom for the Cuban people.”

Meanwhile, 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.”

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 past years, some of these US-flagged boats would head towards the island loaded with unidentified items or pick up Cubans and smuggle them back to the US.

Lee, Basseterre, St. Kitts reported. Associated Press reporters Josh Funk in Omaha, Nebraska, and Aamer Madhani and Konstantin Toropin in Washington, DC, contributed to this report.