Durrant Pate/Contributor

The Cuban Revolutionary Navy killed four and wounded six others aboard a Florida-registered speed boat that had entered Cuba’s territorial waters and reportedly opened fire on the soldiers first.

A statement from the Cuban government, through the Interior Ministry, noted that one soldier was injured in the shoot-out that took place on Wednesday (February 25) off the coast.

The Associated Press reports that the Cuban government identified two of the boat passengers as Amijail Sánchez González and Leordan Enrique Cruz Gómez, who are wanted by Cuban authorities “based on their involvement in the promotion, planning, organization, financing, support or commission of actions carried out in the national territory or in other countries, in connection with acts of terrorism.”

Additionally, Cuban officials arrested Duniel Hernández Santos, a Cuban national, who they allege was “sent from the United States to guarantee the reception of the armed infiltration, who, at this time, has confessed to his actions.”

Havana said it obtained the details about the passengers aboard the boat from the suspects detained following the shootout.

Cuba has reportedly identified seven of the 10 passengers, including Conrado Galindo Sariol, José Manuel Rodríguez Castelló, Cristian Ernesto Acosta Guevara and Roberto Azcorra Consuegra. “The investigation process continues until the facts are fully clarified,” the statement went on to say.

Chief US diplomat responds

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters earlier that he was made aware of the incident and that Washington is now gathering its own information to determine if the victims were American citizens or permanent residents.

“We have various different elements of the US government that are trying to identify elements of the story that may not be provided to us now,” Rubio said while at the airport in Basseterre, St. Kitts, where he was attending a regional summit with Caribbean leaders. 

He described the incident as “highly unusual” and said the White House would “respond appropriately” once it had conducted an independent investigation. 

Situation intensifying in Cuba

In the meantime, Russia declared on Thursday that the situation in fuel-starved Cuba is intensifying after yesterday’s deadly incident.

“We see that the situation around Cuba is escalating,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters.  

Russian state news outlet, RIA Novosti, quoted him as saying, ”The most important thing is the humanitarian component. Of course, the humanitarian issues of Cuban citizens must be resolved, and no one should create obstacles.” 

Cuba is currently grappling with a worsening economic crisis amid a U.S. oil blockade. The Trump administration has effectively cut Cuba off from Venezuelan oil since launching a military operation to seize Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro on January 3, with 32 Cubans killed in the attack.

President Donald Trump has since said Cuba’s government poses “an unusual and extraordinary threat” and pledged to impose tariffs on any country that supplies it with oil. Cuba, which has condemned US pressure, has adopted measures to protect essential services and ration fuel supplies for key sectors.

Humanitarian help coming

The United Nations (UN) has warned of a possible humanitarian collapse in Cuba, as the country’s oil supplies dwindle. Mexico, for its part, sent a new shipment of humanitarian aid to Cuba this week. The ships set sail from the port of Veracruz on Tuesday with a total of roughly 1,200 metric tons of food supplies, according to Mexico’s Foreign Ministry.

The food supplies are expected to arrive in Cuba on Saturday.