Cuba charges six with terrorism in U.S. speedboat shootout

Cuban coast guard ships docked at the port of Havana on February 25, 2026. Cuba's coast guard said on February 25, 2026, it shot dead four people and wounded six others traveling in a U.S.-registered speedboat during an exchange of fire near Cuba's shores that came amid heightened tensions with Washington.

Cuban prosecutors said Tuesday that terrorism charges had been brought against six crew members of a U.S.-flagged speedboat that was intercepted by Cuba’s coast guard in a shootout last week.

The U.S.-based Cuban defendants are accused of packing a boat with weapons and heading toward Cuba in hopes of destabilizing the government in Havana.

The coast guard shot and killed four other people aboard the boat, which came within one nautical mile of the Caribbean island’s shores in the February 25 shootout.

The defendants will be “remanded into provisional detention,” the attorney general’s office said in a statement.

Cuban officials said the boat, registered in the United States, was carrying firearms of various calibers, including 14 rifles, 11 pistols and nearly 13,000 rounds of ammunition.

The incident occurred when a coast guard boat approached the vessel to demand identification, and they responded by opening fire.

At least two of those aboard the speedboat were U.S. citizens, one of whom was killed.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration has made no secret of its desire for regime change in Cuba, imposing an energy blockade after the ouster of president Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela, which was the communist nation’s top supplier of oil.

Last week, Havana said Washington was willing to cooperate in the investigation.

After the Cuban revolution in 1959, such infiltration attempts by armed commandos from South Florida were not uncommon.