U.S. Rejects Role in Fatal Cuba Speedboat Shootout
Cuban authorities disclosed Wednesday that border guard units had fatally shot four armed men aboard a US-flagged vessel that allegedly opened fire on officers conducting a routine identification check in the island's territorial waters off Villa Clara province.
The boat carried no affiliation with either the US Navy or the US Coast Guard, Rubio confirmed to reporters during a diplomatic stop in Saint Kitts and Nevis. He added that Washington was still compiling information and would refrain from drawing conclusions ahead of a thorough review of independent data.
"Let's have our own information on this, and we will find out exactly what happened," Rubio said, noting that US officials had yet to engage in direct talks with Havana over the incident.
"This isn't something that happens every day… it's very unusual to see gunfire," Rubio added.
Under US federal law, American-flagged vessels are barred from entering Cuban territorial waters without explicit government authorization. Earlier this month, President Donald Trump renewed a Clinton-era national emergency declaration, citing risks that unauthorized voyages could undermine US foreign policy and potentially "facilitate a mass migration from Cuba."
Despite Rubio's characterization of the episode as extraordinary, the waters between Cuba and Florida have witnessed comparable armed clashes in recent years. Cuban authorities logged multiple shootouts involving US-registered boats in 2022, most tied to migrant-smuggling networks. In at least one such incident, the US Coast Guard participated in intercepting a fleeing vessel and subsequently returned a suspected gunman to Cuba, according to media.
The latest confrontation unfolds against the backdrop of Operation Southern Spear, a sweeping maritime campaign launched by the Trump administration in September 2025. Framed as a counter-narcotics initiative, American forces have destroyed dozens of suspected smuggling vessels across the Caribbean and eastern Pacific, killing at least 150 people — a toll that critics have condemned as a pattern of extrajudicial killings.
The operation reached a dramatic apex earlier this year when a US military raid on Caracas resulted in the removal of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro from power, further destabilizing regional fuel supplies and deepening Cuba's already acute economic and humanitarian emergency.
Rubio on Wednesday squarely placed blame for the island's economic collapse on Havana's leadership, renewing Washington's long-standing calls for regime change and asserting that Cuba's government bears sole responsibility for the suffering of its people.
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