American citizens were on board a stolen speedboat that entered Cuban waters Wednesday, and at least one American was one of four people killed by Cuba’s coast guard after the occupants of the boat allegedly opened fire on the Cuban military, the White House confirmed to CBS News on Thursday. The news was first reported by Axios.
Four people were killed and six people aboard the boat, which came from Florida, were wounded and arrested, according to Cuba’s Interior Ministry.
In addition to the American citizen who was killed, a U.S. official confirmed to CBS News that at least one U.S. citizen was also among those arrested. At least one of the boat’s occupants had a K-1 visa, the official said, which allows a citizen’s fiancé to travel to the U.S. to get married, and others are believed to be legal permanent residents of the U.S., although it was not clear how many.
Cuba in previous statements had said the occupants of the boat were Cuban nationals living in the U.S.
According to the official and an incident report from the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office in Florida, the boat’s owner alleged that the vessel had been stolen by an employee.
The boat was one nautical mile northeast of the El Pino canal in Cayo Falcones when five members of the Border Guard Troops approached the boat for identification, the interior ministry said. The people on the boat then began shooting, wounding the commander of the Cuban boat, according to the ministry.
The Interior Ministry claimed the 10 people aboard the boat were armed with assault rifles, handguns, Molotov cocktails, bulletproof vests, telescopic sights and camouflage uniforms, and were attempting to “carry out an infiltration for terrorist purposes.”
Cuba’s government identified the four who were killed as Pavel Alling Peña, Michael Ortega Casanova, Ledián Padrón Guevara and Hector Duani Cruz Correa. The six who were wounded and arrested were identified as Cristian Ernesto Acosta Guevara, Conrado Galindo Sariol, José Manuel Rodríguez Castelló, Leordan Enrique Cruz Gómez, Amijail Sánchez González and Roberto Álvarez Ávila.
Cuba said Thursday that in previous statements it had misidentified one of the men as Rolando Roberto Azcorra Consuegra, who it now says was not involved.
The Cuban Embassy in the U.S. said Thursday that two of the boat’s occupants, Sánchez González and Cruz Gómez, had been wanted by Cuba and were included in lists provided to U.S. authorities in 2023 and 2025 of people “that have been subject to criminal investigations and are wanted by the Cuban authorities for their involvement in acts of terrorism,” alleging that they “enjoyed impunity within U.S. territory.”
The U.S. has not publicly identified any of the boat’s occupants or commented on why they were in Cuban waters.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Wednesday that the U.S. government didn’t have any information beyond what Cuban authorities had said. He said the Department of Homeland Security, the Coast Guard and other agencies are investigating the incident.
“We’re gonna find out exactly what happened here and we’ll respond accordingly,” Rubio said.
Cuba’s Embassy in the U.S. said Thursday on social media, “From the outset, and having detected that the vessel came from U.S. territory, Cuban authorities have maintained communication about this terrorist attempt with their U.S. counterparts, including the State Department and the Coast Guard.”
“An investigation is underway to clarify the facts with the utmost rigor,” the embassy added. “The Cuban government is willing to exchange information with the United States on this matter. Among other requests, we will ask the US authorities for information on those involved, the means used, and other details through the existing mechanisms. The U.S. government authorities have shown their willingness to cooperate in clarifying the facts.”
Misael Ortega Casanova, the brother of Michael Ortega Casanova, told The Associated Press his brother was on an “obsessive and diabolical” quest to end Cuba’s communist government. He said his brother was an American citizen who had lived in the U.S. for more than 20 years and had worked as a truck driver.
The boat was allegedly stolen from the Big Pine Key, Florida, property of Angel Walter Montera, who told deputies on Wednesday that his 24-foot 1981 Pro-Line boat, registered in Florida as FL7726SH and that had been docked at the property, was missing, according to the incident report. Montera told deputies he had not given anyone permission to use the vessel and believed a former employee who had done tile work for him, identified in the report as Hector Duardy Cruz Correa, may have taken it without authorization.
President Trump recently imposed new sanctions and tariffs on Cuba, escalating tensions between the Caribbean nation and the U.S. The moves followed an operation to capture former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
