Cuba’s coastguard killed four people on a speedboat from Florida who opened fire off the Cuban coast on Wednesday, the interior ministry in Havana said.
The ship was one nautical mile northeast of the El Pino canal in Cayo Falcones, the ministry said in a statement. When five members of the Border Guard Troops approached the boat for identification, those aboard the speedboat allegedly began shooting. The commander of the Cuban boat was injured, the ministry said.
“As a result of the confrontation,” four people aboard the speedboat were killed and six were injured, the ministry said. The injured parties “were evacuated and received medical assistance.”
It is not clear who was in the Florida-registered speedboat, where they were from or what their reason was for entering Cuban waters or opening fire. An investigation is ongoing, the ministry said.
Florida Rep. María Elvira Salazar said she was “closely monitoring reports” of the incident, calling it an “unfolding situation.” Rep. Carlos Gimenez, who was born in Cuba, called the incident a “massacre” and said the use of lethal force against individuals on a boat registered to the U.S. raises serious concerns.
The Cuban government said it remained committed to “protecting its territorial waters.”
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.
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