TAMPA, FL — Two Tampa men were among 10 people aboard a Florida-registered speedboat that engaged in a deadly shootout with Cuban border guards in waters off the island nation’s north coast Wednesday morning, with one of the Floridians killed, reports said.
The combatants on the boat were armed Cubans living in the U.S., Cuba’s government said. The group, which opened fire on the soldiers who were seeking to identify the people on the boat, was trying to infiltrate the island and unleash terrorism, according to officials.
Four people on the speedboat were killed — including Michel Ortega Casanova of Tampa — and another six were injured. A Cuban officer was also injured.
The other men killed were Pavel Alling Peña, Ledián Padrón Guevara and Hector Duani Cruz Correa, said Carlos Fernández de Cossío, deputy minister of foreign affairs of Cuba.
The six injured on the speedboat were Cristian Ernesto Acosta Guevara, Conrado Galindo Sariol, José Manuel Rodríguez Castelló, Leordan Enrique Cruz Gómez, Amijail Sánchez González and Roberto Álvarez Ávila.
Sánchez González and Cruz Gómez 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.”
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters on Thursday that the U.S. is working to determine if the victims were American citizens or permanent residents.
Items seized from the boat included assault rifles, sniper rifles, pistols, Molotov cocktails, night vision equipment, bulletproof vests, assault bayonets, camouflage clothing, ammunition of various calibers, combat rations, communication equipment and a large number of insignia from counterrevolutionary terrorist organizations, Fernández de Cossío said.
One of the four killed — Michel Ortega Casanova of Tampa — was a man on an “obsessive and diabolical” quest for Cuba’s freedom from current circumstances, his brother in Florida said on Thursday.
Misael Ortega Casanova said his brother was an American citizen who had lived in the U.S. for more than 20 years and still agonized over the suffering that Cubans endure.
“They became so obsessed that they didn’t think about the consequences nor their own lives,” Misael said.
Misael said he didn’t recognize any of the other names released by the Cuban government. He also said that he was unaware of his brother’s plans.
“No one knew. My mother is devastated,” Misael said.
Angela Chaviano with Casa Cuba said that Misael was a member of the organization and had visited it last week, she told The Hill.
“Michel is a great friend, great, is like a brother, and it was very painful for me to know that he was one of the ones deceased,” she said.
Cruz Gómez was also a Tampa resident, The Hill said. No other details were shared about the victims or where they’re from.
This article includes reporting by The Associated Press.
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