After Shootout at Sea, Spotlight on Armed Florida Extremists

A Florida-registered boat carrying ten men engaged in a firefight with the Cuban coast guard one mile off Cuba’s northern coast on Wednesday morning. According to Cuba’s Interior Ministry, the heavily armed men opened fire first, injuring a Cuban commander. After an exchange of fire, three of the men on the speedboat were killed, while the other seven were injured before being taken to receive medical attention on the island.

The Interior Ministry said all those on board the vessel, which was reportedly stolen, were born in Cuba and residing in the United States.

Cuban authorities say they seized equipment including rifles with a range of up to 800 meters, more than 12,000 rounds of ammunition and night-vision gear.

Weapons seized after the attempted infiltration into Cuba. Photo: Abel Padrón Padilla/Cubadebate.

“This is not an isolated attack,” Cuba’s Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos de Cossío said in a press conference on Thursday. “Cuba has been the victim of acts of aggression and terrorism for more than 60 years, most of them organized, financed and carried out from the United States.”

De Cossío said the Cuban government regularly provides U.S. authorities with information about individuals financing and organizing terrorist attacks on Cuba that he claimed enjoy “impunity” in the United States.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that the U.S. launched an investigation “to find out exactly what happened.” Rubio seemed keen to play down the issue. This morning’s unprovoked U.S.-Israeli attack on Iran suggests that this week, the State Department has other priorities.

Michel Ortega Casanova, one of those killed, was a naturalized U.S. citizen who had been a leader of the Republican Party of Cuba (not the same as the U.S. Republican Party) in Tampa, Florida, according to the party’s president. His brother Misael Ortega Casanova told the Associated Press that Michel had fallen into an "obsessive and diabolical" quest for the island’s freedom.

Conrado Galindo Sariol, one of the survivors, last year told U.S. government-funded propaganda outlet Radio Martí: “We are in the final stage of ending the dictatorship.”

Amijail Sánchez González and Leordan Enrique Cruz Gómez, two other survivors, appear on the Interior Ministry’s 2025 list of foreign nationals and entities sought for links to terrorism. Sánchez González has been wanted for sabotage since 2022.