Some of the men aboard were wanted in Cuba for their involvement in promoting, planning, organising, financing, supporting, or carrying out acts of terrorism
Cuban uthorities have claimed a US-registered speedboat wasn’t filled with American civilians, but in fact carried “terrorists” with a blood-soaked history of violence who opened fire on Cuban officials.
Havana issued a statement hours after confirming border guards had shot and killed four people and left another six wounded in a high-stakes sea skirmish on Wednesday (February 25)
Officials now say the majority of the 10 people on board had crept into Cuban waters as they planned to infiltrate the Caribbean nation to carry out acts of terror. The Interior Ministry said all had “known histories of criminal and violent activity”, but two men in particular – Amijail Sánchez González and Leordan Enrique Cruz Gómez—were singled out as men on the nation’s ‘Most Wanted’ list.
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Authorities allege the pair are linked to the “promotion, planning, and financing” of terror plots both at home and abroad”.
The government added it had also arrested a man by the name of Duniel Hernández Santos. They claim he was “sent from the United States to guarantee the reception of the armed infiltration, who at this time has confessed to his actions”, as per Associated Press.
The update comes hours after Cuba’s Interior Ministry (MININT) confirmed a US speedboat with a Florida registration number was detected within one nautical mile of the El Pino Channel on the island of Cayo Falcones.
A confrontation started, according to the official statement, when the “violating” vessels fired at the Cuban border guards, injuring the commander, after a unit of the Border Guard Troops approached the boat to identify it.
In its statement, MININT claimed that the “offending boat opened fire against the Cuban personnel, causing the commander of Cuban vessel to be injured. As a result of the confrontation, at the time of this report, on the foreign side, four aggressors were killed and six were injured, who were evacuated and received medical assistance”.
A US official said the firefight involved a US civilian boat that was part of flotilla to get relatives out of Cuba, adding that the vessel was not US Naval or Coast Guard boat, the New York Times reported.
Marco Rubio has spoken to reporters from an airport in St. Kitts and Nevis, with the US Secretary of State returning from the Caribbean after a visit to allay fears of local leaders eft unsettled by Trump’s recent policies and actions, including the rendition of Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro in a US military operation.
He said that US authorities are in the process of gathering intel to further understand the victims and what happened out in Cuban waters.
“We have various different elements of the US government that are trying to identify elements of the story that may not be provided to us now,” he said.
In the wake of the Florida speedboat confrontation, Republican representative for Florida Carlos Gimenez issued a statement claiming the Cuban government had “murdered” Americans.
“The dictatorship in Cuba has just attacked a boat from Florida and murdered those on board,” he said, adding that the “regime must be relegated to the dustbin of history” and he is calling for an “immediate investigation into this massacre”.
He then launched a blistering attack on social media against Jamaican prime minister Andrew Holness, after the Caribbean has issued a statement on the boat killings.
Holness said in a social media statement: “We must speak plainly about what is happening in Cuba. This moment calls for responsible leadership and constructive dialogue, particularly between Cuba and the United States, to ease tensions and promote reform and stability.”
The Jamaican leader then added: “Jamaica will continue to stand in solidarity with the Cuban people while supporting practical steps that lead to stability and shared prosperity for our region.”
Gimenez responded to this statement on X, formerly Twitter, to accuse the Prime Minister of engaging in a “cover-up for the moribund dictatorship in Cuba”, before adding a clear threat: “Jamaica will face the consequences!”
Images on his social media feeds indicate that Holness met with Marco Rubio in recent days for “productive discussions” that reaffirmed “the strong and historic ties between Jamaica and the United States, and our shared commitment to working together for the benefit of our peoples”.