Cuban government says border guards killed four aboard Florida speedboat after coming under fire, recalling 2022 Bahía Honda tragedy

The Cuban government said its border guards killed four people and wounded six others on Wednesday, February 25, after a speedboat bearing a Florida registration was intercepted off Cayo Falcones in Villa Clara province. The ministry claimed its officers came under fire during the incident and said one border guard was injured in an exchange of gunfire.

Cuban government did not immediately disclose the nationalities of those killed or wounded. The New York Times, citing a US official, reported that the firefight involved a US civilian boat attempting to transport relatives out of Cuba.

In a social media post, the Cuban embassy in the United States said, "In the face of current challenges, Cuba reaffirms its determination to protect its territorial waters, based on the principle that national defense is a fundamental pillar of the Cuban State in safeguarding its sovereignty and ensuring stability in the region.”


US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington was seeking to independently establish the facts. “We’re not going to base our conclusions on what they’ve [Cuba] told us, and I’m very, very confident that we will know the full story of what happened here,” Rubio told reporters, as quoted by The Guardian, while on a trip to Caribbean islands.

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier said in a Wednesday social media post that he had directed the Office of Statewide Prosecution to cooperate with state and federal law enforcement in investigating the incident. “The Cuban government cannot be trusted, and we will do everything in our power to hold these communists accountable,” Uthmeier said.


The shooting has revived memories of a deadly maritime incident in October 2022, when a Florida-registered Concorde model boat capsized after colliding with Cuban Border Guard troops off the northern coast near Bahía Honda. Five people, four adults and a two-year-old girl, were killed, with several others reported missing, according to CiberCuba. That episode fueled international outrage and prompted accusations of excessive force by authorities.