Cuba Says It Killed Four and Injured Six in a Gunfight With American Speedboat

Cuban authorities say they killed four people and injured six others after an American speedboat allegedly opened fire on border guards in Cuban territorial waters on Wednesday.The Cuban Ministry of the Interior says a boat registered in Florida was detected in Cuban waters about a nautical mile northeast of the El Pino channel, in Villa Clara province in the morning hours. When a Ministry of the Interior boat carrying five service members approached the vessel for identification, people on the speedboat allegedly started shooting at the Cuban personnel.The commander of the Cuban vessel was injured in the gunfire, according to a post on X by the Cuban government. The Cuban forces returned fire. The six injured individuals were evacuated and received medical assistance, according to Cuban officials.“In the face of current challenges, Cuba reaffirms its determination to protect its territorial waters, based on the principle that national defense is a fundamental pillar of the Cuban State in safeguarding its sovereignty and ensuring stability in the region,” the Ministry of the Interior said.An unnamed American official told the New York Times that the boat was part of a private flotilla to get relatives out of Cuba and was not connected to the United States military. No other details of the incident were immediately available.The White House did not respond to a request for comment, but a Florida congressman called the incident a “massacre” and demanded an investigation.“The incident raises serious concerns about the use of lethal force against individuals on a vessel registered in the United States,” Congressman Carlos A. Gimenez said in a release. “The regime in Cuba must be relegated to the dustbin of history for its countless crimes against humanity,” Mr. Gimenez added.A fellow Florida Republican, Congresswoman María Elvira Salazar, had a more measured response, saying she was closely monitoring reports about the shooting. “This is an unfolding situation, and I am awaiting further details from U.S. authorities,” Ms. Salazar said on X.Cuba faces a severe energy and growing humanitarian crisis because of a Trump administration blockade of foreign oil shipments to the Communist regime. Venezuela, traditionally the top oil supplier to Cuba, stopped sending tankers after American forces captured former president Nicolás Maduro and seized control of the country’s oil shipments. Mexico has also stopped oil deliveries to Cuba.International airlines have suspended service due to a lack of fuel on the island.The Trump administration said on Wednesday that it would allow a small amount of Venezuelan oil to be sold to private companies in Cuba, according to the Wall Street Journal. The Treasury Department said a handful of American companies with Biden-era licenses to export fuel would be allowed to resume deliveries. Those small deliveries are not expected to be enough to ease the energy crisis.Wednesday’s shooting took place a day after the 30th anniversary of the deaths of four Brothers to the Rescue volunteers, when Cuban military planes shot down two planes delivering anti-regime fliers. The Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs for the State Department marked the anniversary, saying it continues to seek justice for the victims.“Thirty years ago, the illegitimate Cuban regime deliberately shot down the aircrafts of the unarmed Brothers to the Rescue,” the bureau said in an X post. “The murder of these four humanitarian pilots — Mario de la Peña, Carlos Costa, Pablo Morales, and Armando Alejandro Jr. will never be forgotten. We continue to press for justice for this barbaric act of terror.”

Cuba Says It Killed Four and Injured Six in a Gunfight With American Speedboat

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