Cuban coast guard says it killed 4 people in shootout with a Florida speedboat

Nora Gámez Torres, Miami Herald on Feb 25, 2026

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Cuban authorities said that four people on a Florida-registered speedboat were killed and six were injured in a gunfire exchange with the Cuban coast guard after the speedboat entered Cuban territorial waters.

A statement by Cuba’s Interior Ministry said the “illegal” speedboat was detected one nautical mile northeast of the El Pino channel, in Cayo Falcones, off the northern coast of Villa Clara province in central Cuba.

According to the statement, when a Cuban coast guard vessel with five officers approached the speedboat to ask for identification, the men on the speedboat opened fire and wounded the Cuban vessel’s commander.

“As a result of the confrontation, at the time of this report, four of the foreign attackers were killed, and six were wounded,” the statement said. Those injured were evacuated and received medical attention, according to Cuban authorities.

“Faced with the current challenges, Cuba reaffirms its commitment to protecting its territorial waters, based on the principle that national defense is a fundamental pillar for the Cuban state in safeguarding its sovereignty and stability in the region,” the statement said.

The statement did not provide any other details about the incident or the identities of the people on board the Florida-registered vessel. The interior ministry said it is investigating the incident.

Vice President JD Vance said the administration is monitoring the situation.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio “briefed me about 15 minutes ago on it, but we don’t know a whole lot of details and so I’ll defer to the White House to provide more updates as we get them,” Vance said. “Certainly a situation that we’re monitoring, hopefully it’s not as bad as we fear it could be, but can’t say more because I just don’t know more.”

In recent years, there have been several incidents involving Cuba’s coast guards and boats from the United States, usually carrying migrants trying to leave the island or involved in drug trafficking. But the one Wednesday appears to be the deadliest on record.

In another shoot-out in 2022, the Cuban coast guard killed one person aboard a Dakota speedboat with a Florida registration number three nautical miles north of Bahia Honda. Cuban authorities said at the time they found drugs and evidence of firearms use aboard.

That same year, five people, including a young child, died when a speed boat carrying Cubans collided with a Cuban coast guard vessel, according to the Ministry of Interior’s version. Survivors later said the coast guard vessel rammed their boat.

The shootout on Wednesday, a day after the 30th anniversary of the shoot-down of two Brothers to the Rescue planes by Cuban MiGs in 1996 — an incident that triggered the codification of the U.S. embargo into law — risks aggravating an already tense situation.

Following a U.S. military operation to capture Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro in January 2026, the Trump administration cut off Venezuelan oil supplies to Cuba and imposed an oil blockade on January 29, 2026, threatening Cuba’s trading partners with sanctions.

Wednesday’s incident risks hindering delicate back-channel conversations between the Trump administration and members of the Castro family in Cuba seeking changes on the island.

“It’s too early to tell exactly what transpired,” said Michael Bustamante, associate professor of history and the Emilio Bacardí Moreau Chair in Cuban and Cuban-American Studies at the University of Miami. “If this was a migrant extraction gone wrong and not a deliberate provocation, that perhaps decreases the chances this could escalate.”

“The Trump administration is obviously not a fan of migrant trafficking,” he added. “But Florida officials are already upping the rhetorical ante, and the timing—one day after the 30th anniversary of the Brothers to the Rescue shootdown — means the environment is primed to see local demands that Washington respond.”

Miami U.S. Reps Carlos Gimenez and María Elvira Salazar, along with Florida U.S. Sen. Rick Scott, called for an independent investigation to determine whether any of the victims were U.S. citizens or legal residents.

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(Miami Herald staff writer Claire Heddles contributed to this report.)

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