At least one American citizen was shot dead and another injured by Cuban officials intercepting a speedboat off its coast on Wednesday, a US official has said.
Border guards shot dead four people and injured the remaining six aboard the Florida-registered speedboat. Cuba accused the 10 people on the boat of planning “an infiltration with terrorist aims” and said they opened fire first.
A third person was on a US K-1 visa – for fiancées of American citizens – the US official said. The boat’s owner alleged the vessel had been stolen by an employee.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio had said Washington was investigating the “highly unusual” incident.
Cuban authorities had said all 10 were Cuban nationals residing in the US.
They also identified an 11th person they said had been arrested and had confessed to being part of the alleged plot.
The interior ministry said earlier that the speedboat had entered its territorial waters and was “one nautical mile off Cayo Falcones” on the country’s northern coast when it was intercepted.
It said the commander of the Cuban boat was injured in the firefight that ensued.
The Cuban authorities added that most of the passengers on the US-registered boat had “prior records involving criminal and violent activity”.
Handguns, assault rifles and improvised explosive devices were recovered from the speedboat, along with other tactical gear, according to the statement.
The deadly shooting comes at a time of increased tension between the two countries.
Less than two months ago, US forces seized Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, Cuba’s close ally, and stopped his successor from supplying the country with oil.
Rubio has said the speedboat incident was not a US operation and no US government personnel were involved.
Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel on Thursday vowed to defend the Caribbean country against aggression.
“Cuba will defend itself with determination and firmness against any terrorist and mercenary aggression that seeks to affect its sovereignty and national stability,” Díaz-Canel said on X.
“Cuba does not attack, nor threaten,” Díaz-Canel added.
Cuba’s deputy foreign minister Carlos Fernández de Cossío said the US had shown a “willingness” to cooperate on “clarifying these regrettable events”.
BBC Verify checked the speedboat’s registration details provided by the Cuban embassy in the US (FL7726SH, Florida registered), but they yielded no ownership details or tracking history on any of the platforms the BBC relies on.
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”.
By BBC News
Email your news TIPS to Editor@Kahawatungu.com — this is our only official communication channel
