By Kara Fox, Caroll Alvarado, Ruben Correa
(CNN) — Cuba’s forces fatally shot four people on a Florida-registered speedboat who were attempting to enter Cuban waters Wednesday and “infiltrate” the island, authorities said.
The shootout comes amid rising tensions between Cuba and the United States, which have both opened investigations into the incident
As more details continue to emerge about the fatal shooting, here’s what we know so far.
What happened?
Cuban border guard troops approached the boat after it entered the country’s territorial waters in Falcones Cay, Villa Clara province, just over 100 miles from Florida, Cuba’s Interior Ministry said in a statement.
A passenger aboard the boat fired at the Cuban patrol vessel, wounding its commander and prompting Cuban forces to return fire, the statement said.
Four people on the speedboat were killed and six others were wounded, it said. The survivors are in custody and receiving medical attention, the statement added.
The ministry later said the passengers were Cuban residents of the US armed with assault rifles, handguns and molotov cocktails and that they had intended to carry out an “infiltration for terrorist purposes.”
In addition, another individual, reportedly sent from the United States to help facilitate the operation, was arrested and has since confessed, according to the ministry. CNN has reached out to the White House for comment.
The vessel, registered in the US as FL7726SH, according to Cuban authorities, is a 24-foot power boat manufactured in 1981, maritime database records show.
The location of the shootout, near Falcones Cay, is known for shallow waters, sandbars and beaches. It has historically been a route for Cuban migrants attempting the perilous journey to Florida.
Who was involved?
Cuban officials have named seven of the 10 passengers on the boat.
Two of the survivors had previously been wanted by Cuba for terrorism, the Interior Ministry said.
One of the men who the Cuban government said was arrested appears to have previously shared what seems to be a declaration of an upcoming attack. In a Facebook post, an individual identifying himself as Amijail Sánchez González reposted a document signed on January 31 by four anti-government groups that pledged to take “imminent” and “decisive” action.
Earlier this month, the same individual posted a video saying that if he was injured in any action, he would likely die, noting that he was taking blood thinners.
Michael J. Bustamante, a professor of Cuban studies at the University of Miami, told CNN that the organizations allegedly connected to the incident “may be known on certain corners of the Cuban diaspora/exile internet, but they are fringe groups that are unlikely to have direct connections to more mainstream Cuban-American political leaders.”
While Wednesday’s incident did not appear to be well-planned, Bustamante said it “recalls a long history of Cuban exile clandestine organizing and militancy dating to the 1960s and ’70s — both with and without US support, and sometimes in open defiance of the US government.”
“One question will be whether US officials (like the FBI) were aware of this organization and its activities,” he added.
The Cuban government also identified Conrado Galindo Sariol as one of the men on the boat.
Galindo’s son, Norge Evelio Galindo, had been imprisoned in Cuba for his participation in July 11, 2021, anti-government protests and was released in February 2024, according to a post Galindo made on Facebook.
“I’m proud of what my father just did,” Norge told CNN on Thursday. “I expected nothing less from him.”
“Although I didn’t know what he was doing, I always knew that if that opportunity presented itself, he wasn’t going to let it pass him by