{"id":169731,"date":"2026-02-26T06:29:26","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T06:29:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/169731\/"},"modified":"2026-02-26T06:29:26","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T06:29:26","slug":"cuba-says-its-forces-kill-four-attempting-to-infiltrate-island-on-florida-speedboat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/169731\/","title":{"rendered":"Cuba says its forces kill four attempting to \u2018infiltrate\u2019 island on Florida speedboat"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lee el art\u00edculo en espa\u00f1ol<\/a><\/p>\n

Cuba said its forces fatally shot four heavily armed people attempting to \u201cinfiltrate\u201d its territory on a Florida-registered speedboat on Wednesday, amid simmering tensions between the communist island and the US.<\/p>\n

Cuban border guard troops approached the boat after it entered their territorial waters in Falcones Cay, Villa Clara province, just over 100 miles from Florida, the country\u2019s interior ministry said in a statement.<\/p>\n

A passenger on the speedboat shot at the Cuban vessel, wounding its commander, and prompting Cuban forces to return fire, according to the statement. Six other people aboard the speedboat were wounded and are in custody and receiving medical attention.<\/p>\n

The passengers were Cuban residents of the US and were armed with assault rifles, handguns and Molotov cocktails, and had \u201cintended to carry out an infiltration for terrorist purposes,\u201d according to a later statement from the ministry.<\/p>\n

Two of the surviving passengers were previously wanted by Cuba for terrorism, the ministry added.<\/p>\n

The vessel was not carrying US government personnel and was not on a US government operation, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said earlier.<\/p>\n

\"US<\/p>\n

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks to reporters in a departure lounge before returning to Washington following meetings with Caribbean Community leaders, at Robert L. Bradshaw International Airport in Basseterre, Saint Kitts and Nevis, on February 25. – Jonathan Ernst\/Pool\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

The registration number given by Cuban authorities, FL7726SH, matched a 24-foot power boat that was manufactured in 1981, according to maritime database records.<\/p>\n

Another individual who was sent from the US to \u201cfacilitate the reception of the armed infiltration\u201d was arrested and has since confessed, the Cuban interior ministry statement said. CNN has reached out to the White House regarding the latest Cuban statement.<\/p>\n

The shootout comes amid heightened tensions<\/a> between the US and Cuba. Following the US ousting in January of Venezuelan leader and Cuban ally Nicol\u00e1s Maduro, the administration of US President Donald Trump has set its sights on Cuba, blocking all oil deliveries to the island and talking of regime change.<\/p>\n

The blockade has brought Cuba\u2019s economy to its knees, with the Caribbean nation experiencing its worst era of economic uncertainty<\/a> in decades and the UN warning of a potential humanitarian \u201ccollapse.\u201d<\/p>\n

The US eased the embargo slightly<\/a> on Wednesday, saying it would grant licenses to private Cuban entities looking to resell oil from Venezuela, the main supplier of crude and fuel to the Cuban market. That market is largely dominated by the public sector.<\/p>\n

Cuba has clashed with US boats before<\/p>\n

Cuba\u2019s forces have engaged in skirmishes with US boats entering its waters in the past, though it is rare to see deadly shootouts on this scale.<\/p>\n

Havana\u2019s ministry of the interior said it intercepted 13 US speedboats<\/a> in 2022 with 23 crew members who it accused of \u201ccarrying out human trafficking operations\u201d taking people from Cuba to the US.<\/p>\n

The north coast of Villa Clara province, where the speedboat was intercepted on Wednesday, is known for its white-sand beaches, shallow waters and sandbars. The US Coast Guard has previously intercepted speedboats off its coast that it said were carrying illegal migrants to the US, which is home to a Cuban exile community largely opposed to the island\u2019s communist government.<\/p>\n

The fatal shooting comes just one day after the 30-year anniversary of when the Cuban military downed two planes<\/a> belonging to the Cuban-American humanitarian organization Brothers to the Rescue over the waters north of Havana, killing four.<\/p>\n

Earlier this month, Trump extended a Clinton-era emergency measure<\/a>, enacted after Cuba shot down the planes, which allows US authorities to board any vessel which may be headed toward Cuba.<\/p>\n

Nearly one million Cubans have fled to the US in recent years, with thousands attempting<\/a> the perilous sea journey to Florida in makeshift vessels. However, unlike previous Republican and Democratic administrations, which generally treated Cubans as political refugees and gave them a unique fast track to US residency, Trump has deported Cubans<\/a> in record numbers.<\/p>\n

US officials call for investigation<\/p>\n

Earlier, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the US embassy in Havana was looking into the incident after being informed of it by Cuban authorities. The Department of Homeland Security and the US Coast Guard are also involved.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to find out exactly what happened here and then we\u2019ll respond accordingly,\u201d said Rubio, who was in the region on an official visit to Saint Kitts and Nevis.<\/p>\n

\u201cSuffice it to say, it is highly unusual to see shootouts on open sea like that,\u201d he added. \u201cIt\u2019s something, frankly, that hasn\u2019t happened over Cuba in a very long time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Officials from Florida called for an investigation and for the Cuban government to be held accountable.<\/p>\n

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier said he has directed the Office of Statewide Prosecution to help federal, state, and law enforcement authorities begin an investigation.<\/p>\n

US Republican Congressman Carlos A. Gimenez, whose district includes the southern tip of Florida, said the incident raised concerns about the use of lethal force against people aboard a US-registered vessel and called for an investigation into the incident.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnited States authorities must determine whether any of the victims were US citizens or legal residents and establish exactly what occurred,\u201d he said in a statement posted to X. \u201cThe regime in Cuba must be relegated to the dustbin of history for its countless crimes against humanity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Republican Senator Rick Scott, also from Florida, called the incident \u201cdeeply concerning\u201d and said the Cuban government \u201cmust be held accountable.\u201d<\/p>\n

CNN\u2019s Max Saltman, Patrick Oppmann and Jennifer Hansler contributed to this report.<\/p>\n

For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lee el art\u00edculo en espa\u00f1ol Cuba said its forces fatally shot four heavily armed people attempting to \u201cinfiltrate\u201d…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":169732,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[1016,80840,28,30,29,80841,8877,6688,80580,80839],"class_list":{"0":"post-169731","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-florida","8":"tag-cuba","9":"tag-cuban-authorities","10":"tag-florida","11":"tag-florida-headlines","12":"tag-florida-news","13":"tag-interior-ministry","14":"tag-marco-rubio","15":"tag-president-donald-trump","16":"tag-speedboat","17":"tag-villa-clara-province"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169731","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=169731"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169731\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/169732"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=169731"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=169731"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=169731"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}