U.S.-based man killed by Cuba coast guard wanted to spark uprising: ally

Latin America expert John Kirk on how the fatal speedboat shooting off Cuba’s coast could have diplomatic repercussions with the U.S.

A U.S.-based man identified as one of those killed by the Cuban coast guard in a shootout had wanted to liberate the communist island, a political ally told AFP on Thursday.

Cuba’s Coast Guard killed one American and wounded another when it shot at a speedboat on Wednesday, a U.S. official said. Cuba said four people on board were killed, with another six wounded.

The incident came amid deep tensions between Havana and Washington following the U.S. overthrow of top Cuba ally, Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela.

Cuba vowed to defend itself against “terrorist and mercenary” attacks after the fatal exchange of fire with the Florida-registered boat.

On Thursday, Cuba’s deputy foreign minister, Carlos Fernandez de Cossio, said Washington had “expressed willingness to cooperate in clarifying these regrettable events.”

Havana said all those on board the U.S. boat were Cubans living in the United States, which has received several waves of emigration from the island since the 1960s.

A political ally of one of those killed, Michel Ortega Casanova, told AFP that Ortega Casanova had spoken often of wanting to free his homeland.

“His goal was to go and fight against a criminal and murderous narco-tyrannical (government), to see if that would spark the people to rise up,” said Wilfredo Beyra, head of the Cuban Republican Party in Tampa, Fla.

Beyra said he had warned Ortega Casanova, reported to be a 54-year-old truck driver, now was “not the time to take such action” but that the other man had vowed to take action “at any moment.”

Cuban authorities said a coast guard vessel came under fire from the speedboat around one nautical mile from Cuba’s north shore, adding that assault rifles, handguns, Molotov cocktails and military-style gear were all found onboard.

The response from the United States government was muted.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who was on a Caribbean visit, said that Washington was conducting its own investigation and would “respond accordingly.”

He insisted that the U.S. government had no hand in the confrontation.

Fighting for the homeland

The interior ministry said most of those on the speedboat had records in Cuba for “criminal and violent activity,” and that another man sent from the United States to take part in the operation was arrested on Cuban soil and confessed.

A U.S. official also said some on the boat had criminal records, and added that a U.S. citizen who was injured was receiving medical care in Cuba.

Beyra told AFP that several groups in Florida, home to over one million Cubans, “openly declare that they are willing, through military training, to fight for the freedom of their homeland.”

He said he also knew one of the men identified by Havana as being wounded, Leordan Enrique Cruz Gomez, whom he met at a political event.

The Cuban government frequently reports incursions by speedboats from the United States into its territorial waters, but deadly clashes are rarer.

Incursion incidents are often related to people-smuggling to the United States or drug trafficking, and have included chases, shootouts and armed attacks on border guards.

Trump pressure

The latest clash comes as Cuba reels from U.S. economic pressure.

U.S. President Donald Trump has branded Cuba a “failed nation” and an “extraordinary threat” to U.S. national security, though he has so far dismissed mounting a regime change operation.

Cuba’s communist government lost one of its key diplomatic supporters -- and a vital source of fuel for the country -- in January when U.S. forces toppled Maduro, effectively taking control of Venezuelan oil exports.

The country had previously relied on Venezuela for about half of its fuel needs.

After an outcry from Caribbean leaders, worried that starving 9.6 million Cubans of oil would cause the economy to collapse, the United States said Wednesday it would allow limited shipments of Venezuelan oil for commercial and humanitarian use.

The Treasury Department said the Venezuelan oil would need to go through private businesses and not the Cuban government or the military apparatus that controls much of the island’s economy.