FBI agents may visit Cuba to help with investigation on deadly boat clash, Diaz-Canel says
Published in News & Features
FBI experts may travel to Cuba to help with a joint inquiry into the recent deadly shoout out at sea between a Florida-registered vessel and the island’s coast guard, Cuban leader Miguel Diaz-Canel said Friday.
“We’re in waiting for a possible visit ... of FBI experts to participate in the clarification and the investigations with personnel from our Interior Ministry,” Diaz-Canel said during a press conference on Friday morning. “There is information and cooperation with our American counterparts.”
The FBI office in Miami declined to comment on the Cuban leader’s statement, saying the State Department is handling inquiries on the matter.
During the press event, in which Diaz Canel confirmed that there have been high-level talks with U.S. officials, he told reporters that the 10 men who were intercepted near the island by the Cuban coast guard in late February had planned to raid military units and social centers. They planned to “create confusion and discomfort and sow fear,” he added.
On Feb. 25, Cuban authorities detected a boat off Cuba’s central coast carrying several men aboard a Florida-registered vessel. Diaz Canel and other Cuban officials have described the incident as an attempted “terrorist infiltration” into the island.
The clash at sea, about a nautical mile off the Cuban coast, resulted in the death of several of the men in the Florida vessel. Other who survived are currently jailed in Cuba. Diaz Canel said that the criminal case against the men is ongoing and that the Cuban government is observing “due process.”
“All of them have acknowledged their participation and that they were the ones who first shot at the Coast Guard boat,” Diaz Canel said. “They have provided very interesting details... about who recruited them, who prepared them, who organized them, who financed them, where they trained.”
Diaz Canel also repeated Cuban official claims that the boat was filled to the brim with weaponry and dismissed speculation that the Florida men had gone to the island to pick up family.
“With the amount of weapons and equipment they brought, there wasn’t enough room for any family on the boat, and second, they have to come to Cuba looking for families armed with explosives, assault rifles, and all kinds of military equipment. Do they think we’re stupid? Do they think we’re idiots?” he said.
Havana has given regular updates on the incident, but the United States has not verified Cuba’s version and stayed largely quiet. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said he does not trust Cuba and has emphasized the need for a separate, U.S. investigation.
Cuba has issued conflicting statements about the incident, including revising the death toll without explanation and acknowledging it had misidentified at least one of the passengers. The latest death toll appears to be four men, with another six still in jail.
Diaz Canel said Friday that the wounded men had received medical treatment and were given the chance to contact their families. In the case of the ones who died in the clash, Cuba’s leader told reporters, family members had been notified about their deaths.
Diaz Canel said two of the men involved were on a list that Cuba keeps on “designated terrorists.” The list also contains names of influencers and journalists in Florida.
He also said that he has spoken with the captain of the Cuban coast guard patrol vessel who intercepted the Florida boat, who was injured in the clash.
“He narrated how he was wounded, how he remained at the helm, in command of the ship, and when his strength failed him, he asked one of his colleagues to take command of the operation. He had to lie down; he was bleeding profusely, completely weakened, and he heard everything unfolding,” said Diaz Canel. “He had tremendous pride for having thwarted that infiltration.”
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—Miami Herald staff writer Jay Weaver contributed to this story.
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