Updated February 26, 2026 at 4:58 PM CST
MEXICO CITY — Both Washington and Havana say they are launching investigations after Cuban authorities reported that their forces killed four people and wounded six others when a Florida-registered speedboat entered Cuban waters on Wednesday.
On Thursday, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez wrote on X that "a thorough investigation is underway" and stressed that defending Cuba's coasts and national security is a duty.
President Miguel Díaz-Canel also posted on X that Cuba "does not attack or threaten."
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington will conduct its own inquiry. Rubio said Cuban officials told the United States that their troops fired on the vessel only after people on board opened fire.
"We're going to have our own information on this, and we're going to figure out exactly what happened," Rubio told reporters on Wednesday, adding: "Suffice it to say it is highly unusual to see shootouts on open sea like that. ... It's something, frankly, that hasn't happened with Cuba in a very long time."
According to a U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly, the speedboat's owner alleged that the vessel was stolen by an employee.
The official told NPR that at least two of the people on the speedboat were U.S. citizens. One of them was killed and the other was injured and is receiving medical care in Cuba. A third person had been in the U.S. on a visa, while the remaining individuals may be legal permanent residents, according to the official. Some of those on the boat have criminal records, the official added.
One of the people on the boat has been identified as Amijail Sánchez González. He runs an organization called Auto Defensa del Pueblo — or "People's Self-Defense" — according to his friend, Michel "Kiki" Naranjo Riverón. Naranjo told NPR the group has spent years recruiting Cubans on the island to build what he described as a clandestine network aimed at sabotaging the Cuban government from within.
In an Instagram video posted earlier this month, Sánchez called himself the leader of the group and said he was "ready to die" to free Cuba from its repressive and disastrous communist rule. But as WLRN reported, much of the video was an expletive-laden monologue condemning Cuban leaders in exile.
Naranjo said he did not know Sánchez's specific plans but added that he would have been proud to be on the boat. He rejected the Cuban government's characterization of the men as terrorists.
"They are all men who want Cuba to be free," Naranjo told NPR. "They grew tired. They got tired of promises from presidents. They got tired of promises from members of Congress."
Asked whether increased U.S. pressure — including tighter sanctions and restrictions — could topple the Cuban government, Naranjo said the only thing authorities in Havana understand is bullets.
The Cuban Interior Ministry said in a statement on Wednesday that 10 armed men — all Cuban nationals living in the United States — were aboard the vessel and planning what the government described as a "terrorist infiltration" of the island.
Authorities say they recovered " assault rifles, handguns, improvised explosive devices (Molotov cocktails), bulletproof vests, telescopic sights and camouflage uniforms."
The Ministry said the speedboat had crossed into Cuban territorial waters and was intercepted about one nautical mile off Cayo Falcones, along the country's northern coastline.
In addition to Amijail Sánchez González, Havana said it had detained Leordan Enrique Cruz Gómez, Conrado Galindo Sariol, José Manuel Rodríguez Castelló, Cristian Ernesto Acosta Guevara and Roberto Azcorra Consuegra.
But one of the men Cuba says it has detained — Roberto Azcorra Consuegra — told the Associated Press he was shocked to see his name on the list. He said he was in South Florida.
"What's important now is that my name is there — they say they have me detained, and I'm here in the United States," Azcorra Consuegra told AP.
The Cuban government later issued a clarification on X saying Azcorra Consuegra "was mistakenly identified as a member of the group, although he is not, despite being known for his history of violent actions and intentions against Cuba."
The government said a man identified as Michel Ortega Casanova was among those killed in the clash. The three other people killed during the encounter have not been publicly identified. The captain of the Cuban boat was injured.
The episode comes at a tense moment between Washington and Havana and has drawn comparisons to the 1996 shootdown of planes operated by Brothers to the Rescue, a U.S.-based group that assisted Cuban migrants at sea. Four people were killed in that incident.
The shootdown, which took place nearly 30 years to the day before this latest incident, prompted Congress to formally codify the U.S. embargo against Cuba, cementing sanctions that remain in effect today.
Michael Bustamante, a Cuba expert at the University of Miami, said the confrontation is likely to increase tensions in South Florida, though he described Rubio's response as measured.
"I think the Trump administration seems torn between actually wanting to escalate things with Cuba beyond a point but also fearing the consequences," Bustamante said.
Those consequences, he added, could include mass migration or even a regime crisis that might draw the United States into deeper involvement — an outcome he believes President Trump does not want.
NPR's Michele Kelemen contributed reporting from Washington, D.C.
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