Overview
- Cuba’s interior ministry says a fast boat registered as FL7726SH exchanged fire with coast guards near the El Pino channel by Cayo Falcones, leaving four occupants dead and six wounded, with the Cuban patrol commander injured.
- Authorities in Havana report the vessel carried ten armed Cubans living in the United States and say they seized assault rifles, handguns, improvised explosives, body armor, scopes and camouflage gear.
- Cuban officials published names for six wounded and one deceased; family members identified the dead man Michel Ortega Casanova to the Associated Press as a U.S. citizen long resident in America.
- Havana says a Cuban contact dispatched to receive the group was arrested on the island and confessed, while U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington is gathering facts and Vice President JD Vance said the situation is being monitored.
- Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier announced a criminal investigation and criticized the Cuban government, as both sides continue probes with independent verification of Havana’s claims still pending.