Cuba vows to defend sovereignty after deadly speedboat clash raises US tensions
Cuba has vowed to counter any further armed incursions after its border guards shot dead four people and wounded six others aboard a Florida-registered speedboat whose occupants opened fire on a patrol vessel off the country's northern coastline, an episode that threatens to deepen the already strained relationship between Havana and Washington.
The confrontation took place on February 25 morning after a Cuban border guard patrol boat with five crew members on board moved to intercept the vessel, registered in Florida as FL7726SH, spotted approximately one nautical mile north-east of the El Pino channel near Villa Clara province. Cuba's interior ministry said the speedboat's occupants fired on the patrol boat as it approached, wounding its commander, and that Cuban forces responded in kind.
All ten people aboard were Cuban nationals resident in the United States, according to the ministry. The six survivors were wounded, detained and taken to Cuban medical facilities for treatment. Separately, a person dispatched from the US to participate in the operation was apprehended on Cuban territory, the ministry added.
Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel on February 26 said his country "does not attack or threaten" but declared that "Cuba will defend itself with determination and firmness against any terrorist or mercenary aggression that seeks to undermine its sovereignty and national stability." Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez said authorities were working to establish the full facts and described coastal defence as "an inescapable duty."
Following a search of the vessel, the ministry said authorities recovered an arsenal including automatic weapons, pistols, improvised explosive devices, body armour, optical scopes and military-style clothing. The government named seven of the ten passengers. Two of them, Amijail Sánchez González and Leordan Enrique Cruz Gómez, now face Cuban terrorism-related charges.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, himself a Cuban-American, said Washington played no part in the incident and called it "highly unusual, it's not something that happens every day." He said the administration was assembling its own account of events, including establishing whether those involved held US citizenship or permanent residency. Florida's attorney-general ordered a separate inquiry, while the US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida said the facts remained "unclear and conflicting."
Moscow, a long-time ally of the communist regime, sided with Havana. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Cuban border guards "did what they had to do in that situation" and urged all parties to exercise restraint around the island. Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova went further, denouncing the incident as "an aggressive provocation by the United States" aimed at escalating tensions, a claim Washington has not addressed.
The clash lands at a moment of acute pressure on Cuba. Since January, Venezuelan oil deliveries, which had covered roughly half the island's energy needs, have been disrupted following the US military intervention that captured Nicolas Maduro. On January 29, the Trump administration issued a directive imposing duties on any nation supplying crude to the island, compounding a fuel crisis that has forced Havana to implement severe energy rationing.
The US Treasury Department moved on February 25 to permit limited Venezuelan oil sales to Cuba through private channels, though analysts said the measure fell well short of what the island, which relies on crude to generate over 80% of its electricity, required. According to AP, William LeoGrande, a Cuba specialist at American University in Washington, warned that the Trump administration might "use this incident as some kind of an excuse to come up with even more sanctions." He added, however, that if the Cuban government publicly displayed the seized weapons and allowed detainees to speak about their intentions, that "might put the issue to rest."
Deadly exchanges between Cuban security forces and vessels arriving from Florida are rare, though the Florida Straits have long been a corridor for people-smuggling and drug-running operations that have occasionally drawn gunfire. Cuba's foreign minister said the island had faced what he described as "numerous terrorist and aggressive infiltrations" from American territory since 1959, at great cost in lives and material damage, a lineage that stretches back to the CIA-backed Bay of Pigs invasion of 1961.
_Cropped.jpg)
Cuba has vowed to counter any further armed incursions after its border guards shot dead four people and wounded six others aboard a Florida-registered speedboat whose occupants opened fire on a patrol vessel off the country's northern coastline, an episode that threatens to deepen the already strained relationship between Havana and Washington.
The confrontation took place on February 25 morning after a Cuban border guard patrol boat with five crew members on board moved to intercept the vessel, registered in Florida as FL7726SH, spotted approximately one nautical mile north-east of the El Pino channel near Villa Clara province. Cuba's interior ministry said the speedboat's occupants fired on the patrol boat as it approached, wounding its commander, and that Cuban forces responded in kind.
All ten people aboard were Cuban nationals resident in the United States, according to the ministry. The six survivors were wounded, detained and taken to Cuban medical facilities for treatment. Separately, a person dispatched from the US to participate in the operation was apprehended on Cuban territory, the ministry added.
Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel on February 26 said his country "does not attack or threaten" but declared that "Cuba will defend itself with determination and firmness against any terrorist or mercenary aggression that seeks to undermine its sovereignty and national stability." Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez said authorities were working to establish the full facts and described coastal defence as "an inescapable duty."
Following a search of the vessel, the ministry said authorities recovered an arsenal including automatic weapons, pistols, improvised explosive devices, body armour, optical scopes and military-style clothing. The government named seven of the ten passengers. Two of them, Amijail Sánchez González and Leordan Enrique Cruz Gómez, now face Cuban terrorism-related charges.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, himself a Cuban-American, said Washington played no part in the incident and called it "highly unusual, it's not something that happens every day." He said the administration was assembling its own account of events, including establishing whether those involved held US citizenship or permanent residency. Florida's attorney-general ordered a separate inquiry, while the US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida said the facts remained "unclear and conflicting."
Moscow, a long-time ally of the communist regime, sided with Havana. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Cuban border guards "did what they had to do in that situation" and urged all parties to exercise restraint around the island. Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova went further, denouncing the incident as "an aggressive provocation by the United States" aimed at escalating tensions, a claim Washington has not addressed.
The clash lands at a moment of acute pressure on Cuba. Since January, Venezuelan oil deliveries, which had covered roughly half the island's energy needs, have been disrupted following the US military intervention that captured Nicolas Maduro. On January 29, the Trump administration issued a directive imposing duties on any nation supplying crude to the island, compounding a fuel crisis that has forced Havana to implement severe energy rationing.
The US Treasury Department moved on February 25 to permit limited Venezuelan oil sales to Cuba through private channels, though analysts said the measure fell well short of what the island, which relies on crude to generate over 80% of its electricity, required. According to AP, William LeoGrande, a Cuba specialist at American University in Washington, warned that the Trump administration might "use this incident as some kind of an excuse to come up with even more sanctions." He added, however, that if the Cuban government publicly displayed the seized weapons and allowed detainees to speak about their intentions, that "might put the issue to rest."
Deadly exchanges between Cuban security forces and vessels arriving from Florida are rare, though the Florida Straits have long been a corridor for people-smuggling and drug-running operations that have occasionally drawn gunfire. Cuba's foreign minister said the island had faced what he described as "numerous terrorist and aggressive infiltrations" from American territory since 1959, at great cost in lives and material damage, a lineage that stretches back to the CIA-backed Bay of Pigs invasion of 1961.
No comments:
Post a Comment