Cuba labels intercepted Florida speedboat a 'terrorist infiltration' after deadly clash

Nora Gámez Torres, Miami Herald on Feb 25, 2026

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Cuban authorities said Wednesday a Florida-registered speedboat intercepted in its territorial waters was carrying 10 armed people who planned “a terrorist infiltration” of the island and identified some of the people who were injured or killed in a gunfire exchange with a Cuban coast guard vessel.

In a new statement, the Interior Ministry identified one of the four men killed as Michel Ortega Casanova and said it was still working to identify the other three.

The statement identifies those detained as Amijail Sánchez González, Leordan Enrique Cruz Gómez, Conrado Galindo Sariol, José Manuel Rodríguez Castelló, Cristian Ernesto Acosta Guevara and Roberto Azcorra Consuegra.

The interior ministry said all of the men were Cubans residing in the United States. The statement did not say if some or all were U.S. citizens. It also said that preliminary interrogations of those detained revealed the “group’s intent was to infiltrate Cuban territory for terrorist purposes.”

According to Cuba’s version, authorities seized assault rifles, handguns, homemade explosive devices — including Molotov cocktails — bulletproof vests, telescopic sights and camouflage uniforms from the vessel.

Earlier on Wednesday, Cuban authorities said that four people on a Florida-registered speedboat were killed and six were injured in a gunfire exchange with the Cuban coast guard after the speedboat entered Cuban territorial waters.

A statement by Cuba’s Interior Ministry said the “illegal” speedboat was detected one nautical mile northeast of the El Pino channel, in Cayo Falcones, off the northern coast of Villa Clara province in central Cuba.

According to the statement, when a Cuban coast guard vessel with five officers approached the speedboat to ask for identification, the men on the speedboat opened fire and wounded the Cuban vessel’s commander.

“As a result of the confrontation, at the time of this report, four of the foreign attackers were killed, and six were wounded,” the statement said. Those injured were evacuated and received medical attention, according to Cuban authorities.

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