The owner of the boat that Cuban authorities announced was involved in a fatal shootout at sea reported it stolen in the Florida Keys, records show.
Cuban officials alleged the “speedboat” had assault rifles, handguns, explosives, bulletproof vests, and telescopic sights, according to a diplomatic statement.
As investigations continued in both Cuba and the U.S., Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez released a statement on Thursday morning.
“Cuba will defend itself with determination and firmness against any terrorist or mercenary aggression that seeks to undermine its sovereignty and national stability,” Díaz-Canel wrote in Spanish on X.
In Miami’s Little Havana, at La Ventanita in Versailles, Cuban Americans said they welcomed actions against the Cuban communist government, and they mistrusted the report about the fatal shooting.
“Anything against the Cuban government, I am for, because I am for the Cuban people,” Rick Amaro said on Thursday. “I hope they were not there doing business, bringing people.”
At 1:55 p.m. on Wednesday, the Cuban Embassy in the U.S. used X to report that four people died and six were injured during the shootout involving Cuba’s border patrol on Wednesday morning off the coast of the Villa Clara province.
“The crew of the violating speedboat opened fire on the Cuban personnel, resulting in the injury of the commander of the Cuban vessel,” the Cuban diplomats reported on X.
Shortly before 4:50 p.m. on Wednesday, in Monroe County, Angel Montera told deputies that he had left the boat off Paradise Lane in Big Pine Key, and he suspected a man he knew had stolen it, according to the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office incident report.
Montera, the owner of the 24-foot boat with registration FL7726SH, had worked construction with the man, who was born in Cuba and lived in Homestead, according to the deputies’ report.
While with a deputy and a Homeland Security Investigations agent, Montera, who doesn’t speak English, said “he was doing construction work on the property,” was allowed to store his boat there, and had last seen it on the dock over a week ago, according to the incident report.
Montera reported that the man he suspected of stealing the boat “has family in Cuba” including “two young daughters.”
A witness and surveillance video placed a white 2026 Chevy truck that belongs to the man Montera identified at the property at about 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, according to the deputy’s incident report.
A neighbor reported seeing “a single male got out of the white truck and boarded the vessel,” according to the deputy’s report.
The suspect Montera identified was not among the list of names that Cuban officials released as involved in the incident at sea.
The Cuban Embassy in the U.S. identified seven out of the 10 on the boat as Amijail Sánchez González, Leordan Enrique Cruz Gómez, Conrado Galindo Sariol, José Manuel Rodríguez Castelló, Cristian Ernesto Acosta Guevara, Roberto Azcorra Consuegra, and Michel Ortega Casanova.
Sánchez González and Cruz Gómez “are currently under criminal investigation and are wanted by Cuban authorities for their alleged involvement in the promotion, planning, organization, financing, support, or execution of terrorist acts,” according to Cuban officials.
Martí Noticias, a Miami-based U.S. government-funded broadcaster, identified Galindo Sariol as a former political prisoner in Cuba.
Cuban officials also announced that Duniel Hernández Santos was arrested in Cuba and accused of traveling from the U.S. “to facilitate the landing and reception of the armed group.”
“Cuba has had to face numerous terrorist and aggressive infiltrations from the U.S. since 1959, at a high cost in lives, injuries, and material damage,” Bruno Rodríguez, Cuba’s foreign minister, wrote on X in Spanish. “A rigorous investigation is being conducted to clarify the facts. The defense of Cuba’s coasts, of the national territory, and of national security is an ineludible duty.”
Ortega Casanova was born in Cuba, had lived in the U.S. for more than 20 years, was a naturalized U.S. citizen, and had an “obsessive” quest for Cuba’s freedom, his brother Misael Ortega Casanova said, according to The Associated Press.
In western Miami-Dade County, witnesses reported seeing federal agents on Wednesday afternoon outside of Montera’s home in Miami Lakes.
“We are going to find out exactly what happened here and then we will respond,” U.S. State Secretary Marco Rubio said on Wednesday.
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