Cuban flag. File image
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Cuba’s coast guard shot lifeless 4 individuals and injured six others travelling in a U.S.-registered speedboat in an trade of fireside off the Cuban shore on Wednesday (February 25, 2026), the Inside Ministry in Havana mentioned.
The confrontation comes amid heightened tensions between america and communist Cuba, which lies simply 100 miles (160 kilometers) throughout the Florida Straits.
Cuba didn’t reveal the nationalities of the passengers aboard the U.S. boat, and U.S. officers made no instant touch upon the incident.
The Inside Ministry mentioned the coast guard encountered the “unlawful” Florida-registered vessel one nautical mile from Falcones Cay in Villa Clara province.
Because the coast guard vessel approached, pictures had been fired from the US boat, injuring the commander of the Cuban vessel, the Ministry mentioned.
“On account of the conflict, on the time of this report, on the international facet, 4 aggressors had been killed and 6 others had been wounded,” the ministry mentioned, including that the injured had been evacuated and acquired medical help.
The Cuban authorities continuously reviews incursions by speedboats from america into its territorial waters.
The incidents are sometimes associated to human or drug trafficking and have included chases, shootouts and armed assaults on border guards.
Human trafficking
Between January and June 2022, the yr of the biggest wave of Cuban emigration in six a long time, the coast guard intercepted 13 speedboats coming from america, in what authorities described as “human trafficking operations from Cuba to that nation.”
Wednesday’s shootings got here as Washington softened a digital oil siege of the island imposed by President Donald Trump in January after the US ouster of prime Cuba ally, Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela.
Earlier than Mr. Maduro’s seize by U.S. forces on January 3, Cuba had relied on Venezuela for about half its gas wants.
Confronted with an outcry from Caribbean leaders, nervous that ravenous Cuba of oil would trigger the economic system to shortly collapse, Washington mentioned it might enable shipments of Venezuelan oil for “business and humanitarian use.”
The Treasury Division mentioned the exports would wish to undergo personal companies and never the Cuban authorities or the army equipment which controls a lot of the island’s economic system.
The announcement throughout a summit of Caribbean nations attended by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, a Cuban-American who has spent his profession hoping to topple Havana’s authorities.
Since turning into the highest U.S. diplomat, Mr. Rubio has toned down his requires regime change in Havana.
The U.S. oil blockade in place for over a month has introduced an already crumbling Cuban economic system to the brink.
Mexico on Tuesday dispatched two army vessels carrying almost 2,200 tons of support to the island — its second support cargo in underneath a month.
Canada, for its half introduced CAN$8 million ($5.8 million) in support.
Printed – February 26, 2026 03:43 am IST