4 killed after Cuban troops open fire on American speedboat along Cuban coast
Cuban officials said that its military opened fire on a U.S.-registered speedboat Tuesday, killing four people and injuring six.
Cuba’s Ministry of the Interior posted on X, saying that the American boat fired the first shots, and a commander of the Cuban border guard was injured.
“When a surface unit of the Border Guard Troops of the Ministry of the Interior, carrying five service members, approached the vessel for identification, the crew of the violating speedboat opened fire on the Cuban personnel,” the statement read.
They said a military boat noticed the boat, registered in Florida, within Cuban waters on the northeast side of the El Pino channel near Cayo Falcones. As the Cuban military moved to inspect the boat, they said the people on the American speedboat opened fire, prompting them to return fire.
According to The New York Times, the boat is a 24-foot Pro-Line motorboat built in 1981. The Cuban government said the boat had about 10 people on board, which is about the max capacity for a boat that size, the publication reported.
The nationalities or identities of those killed have not been released.
Cuban officials said they have opened an investigation into the incident. Rep. Carlos Gimenez, R-Fla., has called on the U.S. to investigate the shooting.
“United States authorities must determine whether any of the victims were U.S. citizens or legal residents and establish exactly what occurred,” Gimenez said in a statement.
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier said he’s instructed state investigators to collaborate with federal agents to find out what happened.
“The Cuban government cannot be trusted, and we will do everything in our power to hold these communists accountable,” he said in a post to X.
Former Miami Mayor Tomás Regalado, a Cuban American, said he wasn’t aware of any regional, organized effort to pressure the Cuban government to fall, The New York Times reported. He said that’s not needed because of the efforts of the Trump administration against the Cuban government.
“The expectations are higher than when Fidel Castro died,” he told The Times. “People saw what happened in Venezuela,” he said, “and they think that they’re going to replicate it in Cuba in some way.”
Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
