Cuba says it killed 4 people aboard a Florida-registered speedboat : NPR

HAVANA — The Cuban government said Wednesday that its soldiers killed four people aboard a Florida-registered speedboat that opened fire on officers in Cuban waters.

Cuba’s Interior Ministry issued a statement providing few details about the shooting, but said the boat was about 1 mile northeast of Cayo Falcones, off Cuba’s northern coast.

It is unclear whether any U.S. citizens were on board.

The government provided the boat’s registration number, but The Associated Press was unable to verify the boat’s details because boat registrations are not public in the state of Florida.

Authorities said a Cuban officer was injured, four suspects killed and six others injured.

It was not immediately clear what the boat and its occupants were doing in Cuban waters.

In the statement, the ministry said the Cuban government “preserves its sovereignty and guarantees stability in the region.”

James Uthmeier, Florida’s attorney general, said he had ordered prosecutors to work with federal, state and law enforcement partners to open an investigation.

“The Cuban government cannot be trusted and we will do everything in our power to hold these communists accountable,” he wrote on X.

Meanwhile, Florida Representative Carlos A. Gimenez denounced the four killings and accused the Cuban government of murder.

“This regime must be relegated to the dustbin of history!” he wrote about X.

It is not uncommon for skirmishes to break out between the Cuban coast guard and U.S.-flagged speedboats in Cuban waters, but there have been no recent reports of passengers opening fire or being killed.

In recent years, some of these U.S.-flagged boats were loaded with unidentified objects and headed to the island where they would pick up Cubans and smuggle them into the United States.

Officials with the U.S. Coast Guard, Department of Homeland Security and the White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Pentagon declined to comment and directed questions to the U.S. State Department, which did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment.

The incident comes as tensions escalate between the United States and Cuba following increasing pressure from the Trump administration. The two countries used to collaborate in the fight against drug trafficking and other crimes, but have since stopped doing so.