HAVANA: Cuban forces killed four exiles and wounded six others who sailed into Cuban waters aboard a Florida-registered speedboat on Wednesday and opened fire on a Cuban patrol, the Cuban government said at a time of heightened tensions with the United States.
Cuba’s Interior Ministry said the group was comprised of anti-government Cubans, some of whom were previously wanted for plotting attacks.
They came from the United States dressed in camouflage and armed with assault rifles, handguns, homemade explosives, ballistic vests and telescopic sights, Cuba said.
An additional Cuban suspect was detained inside Cuban territory in connection with the plot, the statement said.
“According to preliminary statements from the detainees, they intended to carry out an infiltration for terrorist purposes,” the Interior Ministry said in an official statement.
The wounded were evacuated and receiving medical attention, while the Cuban patrol commander was also wounded, the ministry said.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters it was not a U.S. operation and that no U.S. government personnel were involved. Cuban authorities made the U.S. aware of the incident, but the US embassy in Havana would attempt to independently verify what happened, Rubio said.
“We are going to have our own information on this, we are going to figure out exactly what happened, and there are a number of things that could have happened here,” Rubio said.
“Suffice to say it is highly unusual to see shootouts in open sea like that,” he said.
The incident took place as the United States has blocked virtually all oil shipments to the island, increasing pressure on the Communist-run government.
American forces captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in Caracas on January 3, removing a key Cuban ally from power, and Rubio reiterated his rhetoric against the Cuban government on Wednesday, calling the status quo unsustainable and saying Cuba needed to change “dramatically.”
Bay of pigs
Cuban exiles who are largely concentrated in Miami have long dreamed of overthrowing the Cuban government or seeing it fall and have in the past plotted against the government that was established by the late revolutionary leader Fidel Castro, who died in 2016 at age 90.
Cuban exiles with support and financing from the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency carried out the failed Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961, an event that strengthened Castro while pushing him closer to his backers in the Soviet Union. Other Cuban paramilitaries have attempted or carried out acts of sabotage in decades past.
Such plots have become far less common in recent years, but opponents of Cuba’s Communist government may have been emboldened by recent events that have promoted an image of weakness for the country’s rulers. The U.S. oil blockade has exacerbated severe energy shortages.
Cuba said it identified the six detainees from the boat, two of whom were previously wanted in Cuba on suspicion of planning terrorist acts against Cuba: Amijail Sanchez Gonzalez and Leordan Enrique Cruz Gomez.
The other four were identified as Conrado Galindo Sariol, Jose Manuel Rodriguez Castello, Cristian Ernesto Acosta Guevara and Roberto Azcorra Consuegra.
In addition, Cuba said it detained another Cuban man in Cuban territory, Duniel Hernandez Santos, who had come from the United States to the island in order to receive the infiltrators.
One of the dead was identified as Michel Ortega Casanova, while the other three dead had yet to be identified, Cuba said.
The speedboat came within one nautical mile of a channel on Falcones Cay, on the north coast of Cuba about 200 km (120 miles) east of Havana, when it was approached by five members of a Cuban border patrol unit, Cuba said.
The speedboat then opened fire, wounding the commander of the Cuban vessel, the statement said.
Florida politicians called for separate investigations, saying they did not trust the Cuban account.
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier said he was ordering prosecutors to open an investigation in conjunction with other state and federal law enforcement partners.
US Representative Carlos Gimenez, a Republican whose district includes the southern tip of Florida, called for a federal investigation, saying he had asked the U.S. State Department and military to look into the matter.
“United States authorities must determine whether any of the victims were U.S. citizens or legal residents and establish exactly what occurred,” Gimenez said.
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