DLNews Maritime

Cuban Border Guards Blast Four Dead in Fiery Shootout with Florida Speedboat – 'Massacre' Fury Erupts!

Havana, Cuba – In an explosive clash rocking already sky-high U.S.-Cuba tensions, Cuban border guards opened fire on a Florida-registered speedboat that strayed into their waters, killing four people and wounding six others, officials in Havana declared Wednesday.

The Cuban Interior Ministry blasted out a statement claiming the high-speed vessel – tagged with Florida plates – violated territorial waters early that morning, zooming to within just one nautical mile of the coast near Cayo Falcones in Villa Clara province. When five border guards zipped out in their patrol boat to ID the intruder, the speedboat's crew allegedly unleashed gunfire first, wounding the Cuban vessel's commander.

"The crew of the violating speedboat opened fire on the Cuban personnel," the ministry raged, branding the boat's occupants as "aggressors." In the heated exchange that followed, Cuban forces returned fire – leaving four dead and six injured on the American boat. The wounded received medical aid, Havana added, while vowing ironclad defense of their sovereignty: "Cuba reaffirms its determination to protect its territorial waters."

No immediate comment came from U.S. authorities, and the identities and nationalities of those aboard the speedboat remain shrouded in mystery. An anonymous U.S. official told The New York Times it was a civilian vessel, possibly linked to a flotilla aiming to rescue relatives from the island amid the ongoing crisis.

But Cuban-American firebrand Rep. Carlos A. Giménez (R-Fla.), 72, wasted no time unleashing fury on X: "The dictatorship in Cuba attacked a boat from Florida and murdered the people on board. This regime must be consigned to the dustbin of history." He demanded an urgent probe into what he branded a "massacre."

The deadly incident explodes against a backdrop of soaring bilateral friction. President Donald Trump, 79, has slapped a de facto naval blockade on the communist island, choking off key supplies. Just hours before the shooting, the U.S. Treasury dangled a small olive branch – announcing licenses for Venezuelan oil sales to Cuba, but only if deals benefit everyday people and private businesses, not the military or state cronies.

Venezuela's oil lifeline to Cuba screeched to a halt in January after U.S. forces arrested President Nicolás Maduro, 63, and seized control of exports – plunging the energy-starved island deeper into blackout hell and humanitarian desperation.

As investigations grind on both sides, this bloody encounter could torpedo any fragile thaw – and fuel fresh outrage in Florida's Cuban exile community already marking grim anniversaries of past clashes at sea.