By Jack Phillips
Contributing Writer
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that the United States is working to gain information after the Cuban communist regime said it killed four people in a U.S.-registered speedboat that it said entered its waters.
Earlier on Wednesday, the Cuban Interior Ministry said that four were killed and six were injured on a Florida-registered boat that allegedly entered its territory.
Later, the Cuban Embassy released a statement on social media claiming that crew of the speedboat “opened fire on the Cuban personnel, resulting in the injury of the commander of the Cuban vessel.”
“As a consequence of the confrontation, as of the time of this report, four aggressors on the foreign vessel were killed and six were injured,” the statement said. “The injured individuals were evacuated and received medical assistance.”
While speaking in the Caribbean state of St. Kitts and Nevis, Rubio he was made aware of the incident by the Cuban regime.
“We’re going to find out exactly what happened here and then we’ll respond accordingly,” Rubio said, adding that the Department of Homeland Security, the Coast Guard, and other agencies are involved.
Embassy officials are “on the ground” in Cuba’s capital, Havana, and are working to gain access to the investigation, he also said. “We will know shortly” about the facts related to the case, he said.
Rubio added that he would not speculate on what happened.
“Suffice it to say, it is highly unusual to see shootouts in open sea like that,” he told reporters. “It’s not something that happens every day. It’s something, frankly, that hasn’t happened with Cuba in a very long time.”
Cuban officials identified two of the boat passengers as Amijail Sánchez Gonzalez and Leordan Enrique Cruz Gomez, who are wanted by Cuban authorities “based on their involvement in the promotion, planning, organization, financing, support or commission of actions carried out in the national territory or in other countries, in connection with acts of terrorism.”
The government said it had also arrested Duniel Hernandez Santos, adding that he was “sent from the United States to guarantee the reception of the armed infiltration, who at this time has confessed to his actions.”
It identified seven of the 10 passengers, including Conrado Galindo Sariol, Jose Manuel Rodríguez Castello, Cristian Ernesto Acosta Guevara and Roberto Azcorra Consuegra. The Cuban regime said that one of the four killed was Michel Ortega Casanova. Three others have not yet been identified.
The incident comes amid heightened tensions between the United States and Cuba in the wake of last month’s U.S. military capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, who was an ally of the Cuban regime. The Trump administration has also been restricting trade to Cuba for the regime’s close ties to China, Iran and Russia.
But President Donald Trump suggested to reporters last week that U.S. and Cuban officials are engaged in talks over ending the U.S. oil blockade of the island nation, suggesting that, as a “failed nation,” it has little choice but to try to make a deal with Washington.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
