Overview
- Cuba’s Interior Ministry reports a gun battle near the El Pino channel off Cayo Falcones after a patrol approached a Florida-registered speedboat and someone aboard allegedly fired first, killing four on the boat and wounding six, with the Cuban commander also injured.
- Authorities in Havana say the passengers were Cuban residents of the United States armed with assault rifles, handguns and Molotov cocktails and intended an infiltration with terrorist aims, claims the U.S. has not independently confirmed.
- Cuba provided the boat’s registration number as FL7726SH and says the wounded are in custody receiving medical care, while naming several survivors and one of the deceased as investigations continue.
- U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio says the vessel was not on a U.S. government mission and that the State Department, Homeland Security and the Coast Guard are gathering facts, with the embassy in Havana seeking consular access to the survivors.
- Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier launched a state investigation and members of Congress called for answers, as separate reporting identified one deceased as Michel Ortega Casanova, a detail not yet confirmed by U.S. authorities.