Cuba’s interior ministry has in the past denounced other incursions into its territorial waters by privately owned US boats it said were engaged in smuggling Cubans from the Caribbean island to the US.
The incident also comes almost 30 years to the day since Cuban defence forces shot down two small civilian planes belonging to Brothers to the Rescue, a US-based group that searched for rafts carrying migrants from Cuba to the US.
Four people aboard were killed in the 1996 incident, triggering outrage in the US.
Last month, following the seizure of Venezuela’s Maduro in a US military operation, US President Donald Trump told Cuba to “make a deal” or face unspecified consequences.
Trump also said at the time that there would be “no more oil going to Cuba”. His administration has blocked shipments from Venezuela and threatened tariffs on other nations delivering oil to the island.
The move has further exacerbated the already crippling oil and fuel shortages Cuba has been suffering for years.
On Wednesday, however, the US Treasury said it would ease some small private sector transactions, including oil sales, to “support the Cuban people, for commercial and humanitarian use”.