Cuban coast guard claims four people it shot dead on US speedboat were terrorists
The Cuban government said late on Wednesday that the 10 passengers on a boat that opened fire on its soldiers were armed Cubans living in the US who were trying to infiltrate the island and unleash terrorism
Cuban soldiers have killed four people and wounded six others aboard a Florida-registered speedboat that had entered the country's waters and opened fire on soldiers.
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The Cuban government said late on Wednesday that the 10 passengers on a boat that opened fire on its soldiers were armed Cubans living in the US who were trying to infiltrate the island and unleash terrorism.
They said the majority of the 10 people on the boat "have a known history of criminal and violent activity".
It identified two of them as Amijail Sanchez Gonzalez and Leordan Enrique Cruz Gomez, who are wanted by Cuban authorities "based on their involvement in the promotion, planning, organisation, financing, support or commission of actions carried out in the national territory or in other countries, in connection with acts of terrorism".
The government said it had also arrested Duniel Hernandez Santos, adding that he was "sent from the United States to guarantee the reception of the armed infiltration, who at this time has confessed to his actions".
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US secretary of state Marco Rubio told reporters that he was made aware of the incident and that the US is now gathering its own information to determine if the victims were American citizens or permanent residents.
"We have various different elements of the US government that are trying to identify elements of the story that may not be provided to us now," Mr Rubio said while at the airport in Basseterre, St Kitts, where he was attending a regional summit with Caribbean leaders.
US President Donald Trump's top diplomat refused to speculate on what happened, saying that it could be a "wide range of things", and that the US will not solely rely on what the Cuban authorities have provided thus far.
"Suffice it to say, it is highly unusual to see shootouts in open sea like that. It's not something that happens every day. It's something, frankly, that hasn't happened with Cuba in a very long time," Mr Rubio said.
Mr Rubio said both the Department of Homeland Security and the US Coast Guard are investigating the incident and stressed that he wants to verify the facts.
"The majority of the facts being publicly reported are those by the information provided by the Cubans. We will verify that independently as we gather more information, and we'll be prepared to respond accordingly," Mr Rubio said.
"We're going to have our own information on this. We're going to figure out exactly what happened."
He said it was not a US government operation and that he was not "going to speculate about whose boat it was, what they were doing, why they were there, what actually happened".
Mr Rubio added: "We are going to know, and when we know, then we'll tell you, and we'll do what needs to be done about it, depending on what it is."
He said he found out about the shooting before the Cuban government posted on social media, noting that the US has "constant contact" with the country "at the Coast Guard level".
Earlier, Cuba's Interior Ministry issued a statement that provided few details about the shooting, but noted that the boat was roughly one mile northeast of Cayo Falcones, off Cuba's north coast.
It was not immediately known what the boat and its occupants were doing in Cuban waters. In the statement, the ministry said Cuba's government was "safeguarding its sovereignty and ensuring stability in the region."
US vice president JD Vance said late on Wednesday afternoon that Mr Rubio had briefed him on the incident. He added that the White House was monitoring the situation.
"Hopefully it's not as bad as we fear it could be," Mr Vance said.
The shooting threatens to increase tensions between the US and Cuba.
Following the ouster of Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro, President Trump and top administration officials have taken an increasingly aggressive stance towards Cuba, which had been largely kept economically afloat by Venezuela's oil.