Cuban border troops fatally shot four people and wounded six others after a gun battle with a Florida-registered speedboat near Cuba’s north coast, according to Cuba’s Interior Ministry. The ministry said the incident happened late Wednesday when the vessel entered Cuban waters and was approached by border forces.
Cuba’s account says the people on the boat were Cuban nationals who had been living in the United States and were carrying weapons, including firearms and Molotov cocktails. The ministry said shots were fired from the boat first, injuring a Cuban commander, and that Cuban troops returned fire. Those who survived were detained and, according to Cuban statements carried by multiple outlets, taken for medical attention.
U.S. officials have not independently confirmed Cuba’s description of what happened on the water. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the United States would conduct its own assessment of the incident rather than rely only on Cuba’s claims.
The clash lands in a long-running, sensitive corridor between Florida and Cuba where security, migration, and political confrontation have overlapped for decades. Cuba’s government framed the incident as an attempted “infiltration” tied to terrorism, while U.S. reporting so far has emphasized that the key facts publicly available are largely coming from Cuban authorities.
The next concrete step is what the U.S. investigation turns up — and whether either government releases corroborating evidence (such as vessel records, identities, or forensic findings) that can be checked independently. For now, the most important caution is that the central claims about who fired first and the group’s intent remain, publicly, Cuba’s version of events.
Sources used:
Associated Press
The Washington Post
ABC Australia
The Guardian
