Cuban coast guard kills 4, wounds 6 aboard Florida-registered speedboat in disputed waters near Havana

On the evening of Feb. 25, 2026, Cuba's military opened fire on a 🌴Florida-registered speedboat that had entered Cuban territorial waters. Cuba said the boat's passengers fired first, injuring one Cuban military officer. Soldiers returned fire and killed four passengers and wounded six others. All ten passengers were Cuban Americans who had traveled from Florida. The boat's registration number was released by Cuba but could not be independently verified because Florida boat registrations are not public.

Cuba's government — in a statement attributed to the interior ministry and published by the state-run website Cubadebate — said the passengers were 'armed with assault rifles, hand grenades and other weapons' and intended to carry out 'an infiltration for terrorist purposes.' Cuba detained six passengers and identified two of them as individuals already 'wanted by Cuban authorities' for involvement in terrorism inside or outside Cuba. The statement said the majority of passengers had 'a known history of criminal and violent activity.'

One passenger killed was identified as MOMichel Ortega Casanova, a Cuban-born U.S. citizen who had lived in the United States for more than 20 years. His brother, MOMisael Ortega, told NPR that Michel was a truck driver, that their family had no advance knowledge of the trip, and that Michel left behind his wife, mother, two sisters — one in Cuba — and a daughter who is pregnant. 'No one knew,' Misael said. He added that while he doesn't believe in heroes, 'maybe it will justify that some day Cuba will be free.'

Secretary of State MRMarco Rubio — himself a Cuban American from 🌴Florida — said the U.S. Embassy in Havana was working to determine whether any passengers were American citizens or permanent residents. Rubio said the U.S. was gathering its own independent information and would not rely on Cuba's account. He described the situation as a 'wide range of things' that could have occurred. Vice President JVJD Vance said Rubio had briefed him and that the White House was monitoring the situation. 'Hopefully it's not as bad as we fear it could be,' Vance said.

🌴Florida Attorney General JUJames Uthmeier ordered state prosecutors to work with federal, state, and local law enforcement to investigate. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida said it would pursue answers 'through every legal and diplomatic channel available,' noting that 'facts remain unclear and conflicting.' Former Defense Secretary LPLeon Panetta discussed the incident on CNN the same night.

The 1996 precedent looms large over this incident. On Feb. 24, 1996 — exactly 30 years before this shooting — Cuba's air force shot down two small Cessna planes operated by Brothers to the Rescue, a Cuban American humanitarian group that flew missions over the 🌴Florida Straits looking for Cuban rafters. Four people were killed, all U.S. residents. The Clinton administration and Congress responded by passing the Helms-Burton Act, which codified the U.S. embargo of Cuba into law and made it harder for future presidents to lift it without congressional approval.

The Helms-Burton Act, passed after the 1996 shootdowns and strengthened by Title III enforcement under the Trump administration's first term in 2019, restricts trade and travel with Cuba and prevents the president from unilaterally lifting the embargo without congressional action. Cuba remains on the U.S. State Sponsors of Terrorism list — a designation the Biden administration briefly considered removing and the Trump administration maintained.

The incident adds pressure to an already tense bilateral relationship. The Trump administration had reimposed Cuba as a State Sponsor of Terrorism in early 2025 and tightened travel and financial restrictions. Cuba, for its part, has faced severe economic distress, fuel shortages, and rolling blackouts since 2022. Some Cuban American advocacy groups have long sought regime change in Cuba, and periodic attempts by exile groups to mount operations against the Cuban government have been a persistent feature of South 🌴Florida's political landscape since the 1960s.