The brother of one of the men who was killed after taking a U.S.-registered speedboat into Cuban waters and allegedly opening fire on the country’s border patrol said his sibling was fixated on overthrowing Cuba’s government.
Misael Ortega Casanova, brother of Michael Ortega Casanova, told The Associated Press that his brother had fallen into an “obsessive and diabolical” quest to free Cuba from its communist government. Cubans in the United States and Cuban Americans have long protested the current Cuban government, and accused the island’s leadership of human rights violations.
“They became so obsessed that they didn’t think about the consequences nor their own lives,” Casanova said of his brother and the nine other men who were aboard the boat.
The Cuban government said Wednesday afternoon that a speedboat registered in Florida had entered Cuban waters carrying weapons and 10 Cuban nationals who lived in the U.S. However, the White House confirmed to CBS News on Thursday that at least one American was one of four people killed by Cuba’s coast guard after the occupants of the boat allegedly opened fire on the Cuban military. The news was first reported by Axios.
Four people were killed and six others aboard the boat, which came from Florida, were wounded and arrested, according to Cuba’s Interior Ministry.
In addition to the American citizen who was killed, a U.S. official confirmed to CBS News that at least one U.S. citizen was also among those arrested. At least one of the boat’s occupants had a K-1 visa, the official said, which allows a citizen’s fiancé to travel to the U.S. to get married, and others are believed to be legal permanent residents of the U.S., although it was not clear how many.
According to the official and an incident report from the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office in Florida, the boat’s owner alleged that the vessel had been stolen by an employee.
The group allegedly planned to carry out a terrorist attack on the island, the Cuban government said, and had assault rifles, handguns, Molotov cocktails, bulletproof vests, telescopic sights and camouflage uniforms aboard the vessel. Cuba’s interior ministry had said all 10 passengers had “a known history of criminal and violent activity.” The U.S official confirmed to CBS News that some of those who were on the boat have criminal records.
The speedboat was approached by a border patrol boat and opened fire on it, the Cuban government said. The border patrol returned fire, killing four people and wounding the other six passengers. The six wounded passengers were arrested and received medical assistance, the Cuban government said.
“Cuba will defend itself with determination and firmness against any terrorist and mercenary aggression against its sovereignty and national stability,” President Miguel Diaz-Canel said on X on Thursday.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Wednesday that the U.S. government does not have any other information besides what the Cuban authorities have said. He said that the Department of Homeland Security, the Coast Guard and other agencies are looking into the incident.
“We’re gonna find out exactly what happened here and we’ll respond accordingly,” Rubio said. In a separate news conference, Vice President JD Vance said the White House is monitoring the situation.
Adalberto ROQUE /AFP via Getty Images
Tensions between the United States and Cuba have been escalating recently, with President Trump putting new sanctions and tariffs on the Caribbean country after the operation to capture former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
Cuba’s government on Thursday identified the four who were killed as Michael Ortega Casanova, Pavel Alling Peña, Ledián Padrón Guevara and Hector Duani Cruz Correa. The six who were wounded and arrested were identified as Cristian Ernesto Acosta Guevara, Conrado Galindo Sariol, José Manuel Rodríguez Castelló, Leordan Enrique Cruz Gómez, Amijail Sánchez González and Roberto Álvarez Ávila. Cuba also said Thursday that in previous statements, it had misidentified one of the men as Rolando Roberto Azcorra Consuegra, who it now says was not involved.
The Cuban Embassy in the U.S. said Thursday that two of the boat’s occupants, Sánchez González and Cruz Gómez, had been wanted by Cuba and were included in lists provided to U.S. authorities in 2023 and 2025 of people “that have been subject to criminal investigations and are wanted by the Cuban authorities for their involvement in acts of terrorism,” alleging that they “enjoyed impunity within U.S. territory.”
The U.S. has not publicly identified any of the boat’s occupants or commented on why they were in Cuban waters.
A seventh person, Cuban national Duniel Hernández Santos, was arrested on the island of Cuba. He alleged that he had been sent from the U.S. “to guarantee the reception of the armed infiltration,” the Cuban Interior Ministry said.
Casanova told The Associated Press that his brother, who was a truck driver and American citizen who lived in the U.S. for more than 20 years, did not tell anyone of his plans. He was married, and his daughter is pregnant, Casanova said. Casanova told the AP that their mother “is devastated” by his death. He said he hopes his brother’s death may lead to change.
“Maybe it will justify that some day Cuba will be free,” he said.
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