By Daniel Trotta
HAVANA, Feb 25 (Reuters) – Cuban forces killed four people and wounded six others aboard a Florida-registered speedboat that entered Cuban waters on Wednesday and opened fire on a Cuban patrol, the Cuban government said at a time of heightened tensions with the United States.
The wounded were evacuated and receiving medical attention, while the Cuban patrol commander was also wounded, Cuba’s Interior Ministry said in a statement, adding that the matter was under investigation to clarify exactly what happened.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters it was not a U.S. operation and that no U.S. government personnel were involved. Cuban authorities made the U.S. aware of the incident, but the U.S. embassy in Havana would attempt to independently verify what happened, Rubio said.
“We are going to have our own information on this, we are going to figure out exactly what happened, and there are a number of things that could have happened here,” Rubio said. “Suffice to say it is highly unusual to see shootouts in open sea like that.”
The incident took place as the United States has blocked virtually all oil shipments to the island, increasing pressure on the Communist-run government. American forces captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in Caracas on January 3, removing a key Cuban ally from power, and Rubio reiterated his rhetoric against the Cuban government on Wednesday, calling the status quo unsustainable and saying Cuba needed to change “dramatically.”
Speedboats smuggling people off the island have skirmished with Cuban forces in the past, including one incident in 2022 in which the Cuban border patrol killed one suspected smuggler, according to a Cuban government statement. It was one of 13 speedboats coming from the U.S. to be intercepted in the first half of that year, Cuba said.
Despite largely antagonistic relations between the United States and Cuba for 67 years, the two countries have cooperated on matters of drug trafficking and human smuggling in the Straits of Florida, notably during the period of rapprochement under former U.S. President Barack Obama.
In Wednesday’s incident, the speedboat came within one nautical mile of a channel on Falcones Cay, on the north coast of Cuba about 200 km (120 miles) east of Havana, when it was approached by five members of a Cuban border patrol unit, Cuba said. The speedboat then opened fire, wounding the commander of the Cuban vessel, the statement said.
None of the dead or wounded aboard the encroaching vessel were identified, but Cuba said it was registered in Florida with the number FL7726SH.
“Faced with the current challenges, Cuba reaffirms its commitment to protecting its territorial waters, based on the principle that national defense is a fundamental pillar for the Cuban state in safeguarding its sovereignty and stability in the region,” the Cuban statement said.
Florida politicians called for separate investigations, saying they did not trust the Cuban account.
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier said he was ordering prosecutors to open an investigation in conjunction with other state and federal law enforcement partners.
U.S. Representative Carlos Gimenez, a Republican whose district includes the southern tip of Florida, called for a federal investigation, saying he had asked the U.S. State Department and military to look into the matter.
“United States authorities must determine whether any of the victims were U.S. citizens or legal residents and establish exactly what occurred,” Gimenez said.
(Reporting by Daniel Trotta in Havana; Additional reporting by Andrea Shalal and Kanishka Singh in Washington; Editing by Bill Berkrot, Alistair Bell and Daniel Wallis)
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