{"id":170147,"date":"2026-02-26T15:00:14","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T15:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/170147\/"},"modified":"2026-02-26T15:00:14","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T15:00:14","slug":"live-updates-deadly-clash-off-cuba-with-florida-speedboat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/170147\/","title":{"rendered":"Live updates: Deadly clash off Cuba with Florida speedboat"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Tourists<\/p>\n

Tourists visit the Capitol building in Havana, Cuba on Nov. 15, 2018.<\/p>\n

MATIAS J. OCNER<\/p>\n

mocner@miamiherald.com<\/p>\n

Cuba says several people were killed after a Florida-registered boat was intercepted in territorial waters.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what to know so far:<\/p>\n

Four men were killed and several others injured in the exchange of gunfire, according to Cuba\u2019s interior ministry. One of the dead men were identified by Cuba as Michel Ortega Casanova.Cuba says 10 armed people, Cubans living in the United States, were aboard the boat, and they were planning a \u201cterrorist infiltration.\u201dCuban authorities say they seized assault rifles, handguns, Molotov cocktails, bulletproof vests, telescopic sights and camouflage uniforms from the vessel.Five officers aboard a Cuban coast guard vessel approached the Florida-registered speedboat to ask for ID when men on the speedboat opened fire and wounded the Cuban vessel\u2019s commander, according to Cuba.<\/p>\n

DEVELOPING STORY: Cuba labels intercepted Florida speedboat a \u2018terrorist infiltration\u2019 after deadly clash<\/a><\/p>\n

Who was on the boat?<\/p>\n

Cuban authorities have identified those detained as Amijail S\u00e1nchez Gonz\u00e1lez, Leordan Enrique Cruz G\u00f3mez, Conrado Galindo Sariol, Jos\u00e9 Manuel Rodr\u00edguez Castell\u00f3, Cristian Ernesto Acosta Guevara and Roberto Azcorra Consuegra.<\/p>\n

The Cuban government said Michel Ortega Casanova was one of the people killed. The other three have not been identified. Cuban authorities say all of the men were Cubans residing in the United States.<\/p>\n

Immediate reactions from U.S. \"US ice President JD Vance. OLIVER CONTRERAS AFP via Getty Images <\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t know a whole lot of details and so I\u2019ll defer to the White House to provide more updates as we get them,\u201d said Vice President JD Vance. \u201cCertainly a situation that we\u2019re monitoring, hopefully it\u2019s not as bad as we fear it could be, but can\u2019t say more because I just don\u2019t know more.\u201d<\/p>\n

VIDEO: See reaction of Secretary of State Marco Rubio<\/p>\n

MORE: Cuban coast guard says it killed four people in shootout with a Florida speedboat<\/a><\/p>\n

Site of the confrontation<\/p>\n

One nautical mile northeast of the El Pino channel, in Cayo Falcones, off the northern coast of Villa Clara province in central Cuba.<\/p>\n

Statement from the Cuban Interior Ministry<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a result of the confrontation, at the time of this report, four of the foreign attackers were killed, and six were wounded. … Faced with the current challenges, Cuba reaffirms its commitment to protecting its territorial waters, based on the principle that national defense is a fundamental pillar for the Cuban state in safeguarding its sovereignty and stability in the region.\u201d<\/p>\n

Recent confrontations involving Cuba \"MIAMI, In March 1996, thousands of Cuban-Americans gathered for a rally and memorial at the Orange Bowl in Miami after four “Brothers to the Rescue” pilots were shot down by Cuban MIGs. CHRIS BERNACCHI AFP via Getty Images <\/p>\n

2002: The Cuban coast guard killed one aboard a speedboat with a Florida registration three nautical miles north of Bahia Honda. Cuban authorities said they found drugs and evidence of firearms<\/p>\n

2002: Five people died when a speedboat collided with a Cuban coast guard vessel. Survivors later said the coast guard vessel rammed their boat.<\/p>\n

1996: Shoot-down of two Brothers to the Rescue planes by Cuban MiGs in 1996 \u2014 an incident that triggered the codification of the U.S. embargo into law.<\/p>\n

EDITORIAL: Cuba boat shooting has echoes of a shocking earlier tragedy | Opinion<\/a><\/p>\n

This story was originally published February 26, 2026 at 6:03 AM.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tourists visit the Capitol building in Havana, Cuba on Nov. 15, 2018. MATIAS J. OCNER mocner@miamiherald.com Cuba says…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":170148,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[1993,1016,80716,123,125,124,80952,80875],"class_list":{"0":"post-170147","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-miami","8":"tag-coast-guard","9":"tag-cuba","10":"tag-florida-speedboat","11":"tag-miami","12":"tag-miami-headlines","13":"tag-miami-news","14":"tag-territorial-waters","15":"tag-villa-clara"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170147","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=170147"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170147\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/170148"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=170147"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=170147"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=170147"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}