Cuba kills four crew members of a US civilian speedboat
The island’s government says the vessel opened fire after ignoring orders to stop as it entered Cuban territorial waters
The Cuban Border Guard Troop killed four crew members of a speedboat from the U.S. On Wednesday after it failed to obey orders to stop in territorial waters and opened fire on the police vessel, the Cuban Interior Ministry (Minint) reported.
The statement added that six other people on the speedboat were injured, as well as “the commander of the Cuban vessel,” which had a total of five people on board. All the injured “were evacuated and received medical attention.”
The ministry did not provide information about the identities or possible motives of those aboard the speedboat. The incident took place off Cayo Falcones, in the province of Villa Clara, in central Cuba. According to the ministry, the vessel “approached within one nautical mile northeast of the El Pino channel, in Cayo Falcones, Corralillo municipality, Villa Clara province,” inside Cuban territorial waters.
#UltimaNoticia: En la mañana del 25 de feb, se detectó una lancha rápida infractora dentro de aguas territoriales cubanas con matrícula de la Florida, EE.UU, con folio FL7726SH.
— Embajada Cuba EEUU (@EmbaCubaEEUU) February 25, 2026
Se aproximó a una 1 milla náutica al noreste del canalizo El Pino, provincia Villa Clara, #Cuba pic.twitter.com/fgKcDa2LDC
“Faced with the current challenges, Cuba reaffirms its commitment to protecting its territorial waters, based on the principle that national defense is a fundamental pillar for the Cuban state in order to protect its sovereignty and stability in the region. Investigations by the competent authorities continue for the full clarification of the facts,” the Interior Ministry statement reads.
In recent years, several incidents of this kind have been reported, including two in 2022. In one case, a speedboat coming from the United States fired on Cuban Border Guard forces near Villa Clara, injuring a Cuban officer.
The other incident took place in Bahía Honda, in western Cuba, when a vessel also coming from the United States collided with an Interior Ministry patrol boat, causing the U.S. Craft to sink and killing several of its occupants.
Authorities on the island frequently report finding abandoned or seized speedboats along the northern coast (Ciego de Ávila, Villa Clara, Havana), commonly used to pick up potential migrants. They describe these operations as “territorial violations and human trafficking.”
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