Cuban officials said Wednesday that the country’s coast guard killed four people in an exchange of gunfire with a U.S.-registered boat that entered its waters from Florida.
A statement from the communist country’s Ministry of the Interior said that people on board a speedboat entered Cuban waters and opened fire at border patrol troops on Wednesday morning around one nautical mile to the northeast of El Pino canal in Cayo Falcones.
A border patrol vessel unit approached the speedboat for identification before people on board opened fire, the Interior Ministry said.
The ministry said that four people on the boat were killed and six were injured, according to a translated statement. The injured “were evacuated and received medical assistance,” according to the statement.
The Cuban ministry also stated that it “ratifies its willingness to protect territorial waters, based on the fact that national defense is a fundamental pillar” of the state in a bid to keep “its sovereignty and stability in the region.”
It did not identify any of the people who were injured or killed. The speedboat was registered in Florida, it said, adding that an investigation is underway.
The Cuban regime is currently dealing with an energy crisis as the Trump administration has moved to block oil shipments from Venezuela to the country. American military forces captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in Caracas and took him to the United States to face drug-related charges on Jan. 3, removing a key Cuban ally from power.
It comes as U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio visited Saint Kitts and Nevis and spoke to a Caribbean group that has 15 member states and other associated members.
The Trump administration is now “giving priority to the Western Hemisphere” after the region has “largely being ignored for a very long time,” Rubio said at the meeting, according to a transcript of his remarks. “We are interested in rebuilding and constructing a new dynamic in this Western Hemisphere in which we partner with all of you on the issues we share in common,” he added.
The U.S. and Caribbean countries would need to cooperate more to tackle international criminal groups involved in drug trafficking through the region, he said, highlighting that these groups are heavily armed.
As of Wednesday afternoon, the U.S. Department of State has not issued a statement on the speedboat incident. The Epoch Times has contacted the U.S. Embassy in Havana for comment.
Reuters contributed to this report.
