4 killed in Cuban border agents shootouts

Cuba’s Ministry of the Interior has announced that its border patrol forces engaged in a shootout with a speedboat from the US, killing four people.

In a statement published on social media, the Cuban government described the boat as having a licence plate from the state of Florida, a peninsula roughly 145 kilometres, or 90 miles, from the island, reports Al Jazeera.

It also accused the speedboat of firing the first shot, precipitating an exchange of gunfire.

“The crew of the violating speedboat opened fire on the Cuban personnel, resulting in the injury of the commander of the Cuban vessel,” the statement said.

“As of the time of this report, four aggressors on the foreign vessel were killed, and six were injured.”

The shooting took place on Wednesday morning, offshore from the barrier island Cayo Falcones in Cuba’s north-central Villa Clara province.

In a follow-up statement, the Interior Ministry identified one of the four deceased as Michel Ortega Casanova. It also revealed the names of the six suspects arrested on the boat, all of them “Cuban residents of the United States”.

Their mission, according to the Interior Ministry, was to “carry out an infiltration for terrorist purposes” on Cuban soil. It accused the 10 men of transporting guns, Molotov cocktails, bulletproof vests and camouflage as part of their efforts.

A seventh arrest, the ministry added, was made within Cuba itself. That person, identified as Duniel Hernández Santos, was described as “a citizen sent from the United States to facilitate the reception of the armed infiltration”.

⁠Russia’s foreign ministry spokeswoman said ⁠on Thursday ⁠that the incident was an “aggressive provocation by ⁠the United States” aimed ⁠at escalating the ⁠situation and ⁠triggering a conflict, ⁠TASS news agency reported.