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By Ellie Cook
Senior Defense Reporter
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Cuba has said it foiled an attempted terrorist attack after authorities killed four people aboard a speedboat heading for the island on Wednesday.
Six others were wounded on the Florida-registered boat after they opened fire on Cuban border guards, injuring a Cuban commander, Havana said.
The 10 people on board the speedboat were dressed in camouflage and armed with assault rifles, handguns, homemade explosives, body armor and telescopic sights, the country's Interior Ministry said.
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All were Cuban nationals living in the U.S. and several were wanted by Cuban authorities in connection with plotting attacks, the government said.
The incident, which Washington called "highly unusual," comes amid a choking U.S. oil embargo and particularly fraught relations between the two countries.
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A 'Terrorist' Operation?
Cuban officials detected the speedboat approaching Cayo Falcones, an area of northwestern Cuba sitting south of Miami, on Wednesday morning, officials in Havana said.
Five border guards approached the ship before the "armed individuals" opened fire, according to the Interior Ministry.
The Cuban government said that after questioning the six detainees, it believed the 10 individuals on board the speedboat had "intended to carry out an infiltration for terrorist purposes."
Those arrested were named as Amijail Sánchez González, Leordan Enrique Cruz Gómez, Conrado Galindo Sariol, José Manuel Rodríguez Castelló, Cristian Ernesto Acosta Guevara and Roberto Azcorra Consuegra.
Cuban officials said Michel Ortega Casanova was killed in the firefight, but the other three deceased individuals have not been formally identified.
All 10 people lived in the U.S. and most had criminal records, Havana said. Sánchez González and Cruz Gómez were wanted in Cuba under suspicion of planning terror attacks.
An 11th person, named as Duniel Hernández Santos, was arrested on Cuban soil after allegedly being sent from the U.S. ahead of the speedboat to help the vessel land on the island. Cuba said he had "confessed to his role" in the alleged plot.
Misael Ortega Casanova, the brother of Michel Ortega Casanova, told the Associated Press his sibling had become embroiled in an "obsessive and diabolical" mission for Cuba's freedom, adding that Cubans who had spent time on the island understood the "great suffering" of its residents.
Misael Ortega Casanova said his brother was an American citizen who had spent more than 20 years in the U.S. and is survived by his wife, daughter, mother and two sisters.
US Denies Involvement
U.S. officials have denied involvement and pledged to carry out their own investigations.
"We're not going to base our conclusions on what they've told us," U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters on Wednesday, adding that it was not a U.S. operation and American authorities would react after gathering more information.
"Suffice it to say, it is highly unusual to see shootouts in open sea like that," said Rubio, the Miami-born son of Cuban immigrants who is well known for his opposition to the government in Havana.
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier has ordered U.S. officials to look into the incident, writing on X that the "Cuban government cannot be trusted."
Republican Representative Carlos Giménez of Florida, who was born in Havana before his family immigrated to Miami following the Cuban Revolution, said in a news release: "I am calling for an immediate investigation into this massacre. United States authorities must determine whether any of the victims were U.S. citizens or legal residents and establish exactly what occurred. The regime in Cuba must be relegated to the dustbin of history for its countless crimes against humanity."
Cuba has contended with a growing humanitarian and energy crisis heightened by the threat of U.S. tariffs hitting suppliers of oil to the island after the U.S. seized control of Venezuela's energy reserves in January.
The U.S. Treasury Department on Wednesday said it would allow the resale of Venezuelan oil to certain private entities, slightly easing the energy chokehold as long as Cuba's government and military could not benefit.
Daily life had ground to a juddering halt in Cuba as a lack of fuel led to frequent power outages, food became scarce and garbage piled up on the streets of the island's cities.
Canada on Wednesday pledged to send aid to Cuba via humanitarian groups shortly after Mexico said it would deliver a second batch of aid over the weekend.
Several people were killed in separate incidents with Cuban authorities involving small boats in 2022 as Havana grappled with a migration crisis.
'Bay of Pigs' Echoes
Cuba has said most of the alleged terrorism plots it has faced over the decades were planned and paid for by U.S.-based groups.
Tuesday marked the 30th anniversary of when Cuba's air force killed four members of the Brothers to the Rescue exile group that had been dropping anti-government leaflets over Havana.
For some, Wednesday's incident recalled the notorious Bay of Pigs operation in 1961, when about 1,400 Cuban exiles, supported by the CIA, landed on the island in an ill-fated attempt to overthrow the government in Havana.
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