A ferry boat navigates throughout Havana Bay because it passes Cuban coast guard ships docked on the port, because it leaves Casablanca, Cuba. File
| Photograph Credit score: AP
Prime officers with Cuba’s Ministry of the Inside unveiled for the primary time late Friday (February 27, 2026) the objects they stated have been aboard a Florida-flagged speedboat that opened hearth towards troops in waters off the island’s north coast this week, with troopers responding and killing 4 suspects.
Officers additionally revealed to The Related Press that authorities have been capable of set up that the ten Cuban suspects left the U.S. in two boats, however one failed, so that they transferred all of the provides to the remaining one and left the opposite adrift.
The federal government stated the detained suspects revealed these particulars and confused that they instantly contacted the U.S. Coast Guard.
Among the many objects Cuban officers stated have been aboard the boat: a dozen high-powered weapons, together with one with a scope; a giant cooler full of greater than 12,800 items of ammunition; 11 pistols; heavy-duty boots, helmets with cameras; and camouflage backpacks.
“We have been clearly capable of assess that we have been going through a terrorist motion from a ship coming from the USA,” 1st Col. Ivey Daniel Carballo of the Cuban Border Guard Troops instructed the AP.
In accordance with Mr. Carballo, the 30-foot (nine-meter) border patrol boat detected an intruder on Wednesday (February 25, 2026) morning and approached to inside about 600 ft (185 meters) to research, but it surely was met with high-caliber gunfire.
He stated that three of the attackers have been instantly killed and {that a} fourth was wounded and later died. Mr. Caraballo stated the speedboat was positioned about one mile (1.6 kilometers) northeast of Cayo Falcones off the island’s north coast. The border guard commander was injured, he added.
Victor Eduardo Álvarez Valle, one of many heads of Felony Investigation for State Safety on the Ministry of the Inside, instructed the AP that authorities have been stunned by the resistance they encountered.
“We did not anticipate it, particularly with that many individuals and weapons,” he stated. “The navy gear discovered on board has been recognized by the assailants, together with the place and the way they acquired it, and the coaching they acquired. Additionally they revealed who financed it,” Mr. Álvarez added.
He famous that officers detected 13 bullet holes on the border guard boat and 21 others on the suspect’s vessel, “that means that there was fight.” The Cuban authorities had reported on Wednesday (February 25) that an individual had been captured on land, however Mr. Álvarez stated that up to now, there isn’t a data that the suspects had any help community on the island.
Cuba’s chief prosecutor of the directorate on the Lawyer Normal’s Workplace, Edward Robert Campbell, instructed the AP that the six arrested, all of Cuban origin, may face terrorism costs, which carry a potential sentence of 30 years in jail, life imprisonment, and even the loss of life penalty, though the latter has been on moratorium for greater than a decade.
The Related Press was given entry to Cuban navy officers and proven the objects displayed on the headquarters of the previous Cuban Institute of Radio and Tv forward of a program that confirmed them to the general public for the primary time.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has stated it was not a U.S. authorities operation and that the American authorities was gathering its personal data.
Printed – February 28, 2026 11:09 am IST