As Washington softens oil embargo, Cuba coast guard kills 4 on Florida-registered boat
HAVANA, Cuba (AFP) — Cuba’s coast guard said Wednesday it shot dead four people and wounded six others travelling in a United States (US)-registered speedboat during an exchange of gunfire near its shores, triggering a new source of tension with Washington.
Havana did not reveal the nationalities of the passengers aboard the Florida-registered boat nor why it was approaching the communist-run island, which is under strict US sanctions.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington was seeking its own facts about the shooting and would “respond accordingly”.
“We’re not going to base our conclusions on what they’ve (Cuba) told us, and I’m very, very confident that we will know the full story of what happened here,” Rubio told reporters while on a trip to St Kitts and Nevis.
“As we gather more information, then we’ll be prepared to respond accordingly,” he said.
In Washington, US Vice President JD Vance said the White House was “monitoring” the situation and that “hopefully it’s not as bad as we fear it could be”.
Vance added that he had been briefed by Rubio, but “we don’t know a whole lot of details”.
The attorney general of Florida, which lies just 100 miles (160 kilometers) from Cuba across the Florida Straits, ordered an investigation into the killings.
The Cuban interior ministry said the coast guard encountered the “illegal” US vessel, registration number FL7726SH, one nautical mile from Cayo Falcones island off Cuba’s northern coast.
As the coast guard vessel approached, “shots were fired from the illegal speedboat,” injuring the commander of the Cuban vessel, the ministry said.
“As a result of the clash, at the time of this report, on the foreign side, four aggressors were killed and six others were wounded,” the ministry said, adding that the injured were evacuated and received medical assistance.
It did not give the exact origin of the boat.
Wednesday’s shootings came as Washington softened a virtual oil siege of the island imposed by President Donald Trump in January after the US ouster of Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela.
