The China Mail - Cuba coast guard kills four on US-registered speedboat

USD -
AED 3.6725
AFN 63.000098
ALL 81.651143
AMD 375.359865
ANG 1.789731
AOA 916.999664
ARS 1397.523703
AUD 1.4047
AWG 1.8
AZN 1.70026
BAM 1.656054
BBD 2.008129
BDT 121.837426
BGN 1.647646
BHD 0.377057
BIF 2957.408975
BMD 1
BND 1.262066
BOB 6.889077
BRL 5.126303
BSD 0.997036
BTN 90.588484
BWP 13.121931
BYN 2.858848
BYR 19600
BZD 2.005165
CAD 1.367645
CDF 2109.999937
CHF 0.772375
CLF 0.021705
CLP 857.029518
CNY 6.86945
CNH 6.85423
COP 3699.44
CRC 472.819644
CUC 1
CUP 26.5
CVE 93.365792
CZK 20.517988
DJF 177.544454
DKK 6.324845
DOP 60.592718
DZD 129.923319
EGP 47.989302
ERN 15
ETB 154.532091
EUR 0.84658
FJD 2.192098
FKP 0.73909
GBP 0.73776
GEL 2.669886
GGP 0.73909
GHS 10.628281
GIP 0.73909
GMD 72.999957
GNF 8744.284505
GTQ 7.648603
GYD 208.594412
HKD 7.81955
HNL 26.378493
HRK 6.376998
HTG 130.841201
HUF 317.604001
IDR 16767.8
ILS 3.089675
IMP 0.73909
INR 90.95125
IQD 1306.096528
IRR 1310670.000061
ISK 121.329723
JEP 0.73909
JMD 155.444539
JOD 0.708997
JPY 156.159014
KES 128.569743
KGS 87.449833
KHR 3998.983955
KMF 416.999886
KPW 899.976745
KRW 1425.440577
KWD 0.306499
KYD 0.830821
KZT 500.448772
LAK 21353.090601
LBP 89282.726503
LKR 308.425064
LRD 182.955123
LSL 15.849704
LTL 2.95274
LVL 0.60489
LYD 6.30906
MAD 9.15182
MDL 17.078747
MGA 4191.363251
MKD 52.165854
MMK 2099.743814
MNT 3569.708423
MOP 8.031583
MRU 39.751905
MUR 46.390509
MVR 15.460172
MWK 1728.873836
MXN 17.169804
MYR 3.885022
MZN 63.904985
NAD 15.849704
NGN 1351.119909
NIO 36.689246
NOK 9.55208
NPR 144.941575
NZD 1.666925
OMR 0.384505
PAB 0.997036
PEN 3.348349
PGK 4.287892
PHP 57.536965
PKR 278.71558
PLN 3.56985
PYG 6421.676545
QAR 3.634632
RON 4.3117
RSD 99.424949
RUB 77.255919
RWF 1456.646909
SAR 3.750452
SBD 8.048447
SCR 13.821179
SDG 601.497294
SEK 9.020725
SGD 1.263097
SHP 0.750259
SLE 24.449841
SLL 20969.49935
SOS 568.755292
SRD 37.812011
STD 20697.981008
STN 20.745131
SVC 8.723963
SYP 111.011509
SZL 15.85182
THB 31.070318
TJS 9.456732
TMT 3.5
TND 2.894327
TOP 2.40776
TRY 43.869403
TTD 6.767993
TWD 31.284102
TZS 2558.662051
UAH 43.147333
UGX 3589.331075
UYU 38.255715
UZS 12151.566469
VES 410.571865
VND 26102
VUV 118.362569
WST 2.71515
XAF 555.425064
XAG 0.011361
XAU 0.000194
XCD 2.70255
XCG 1.796867
XDR 0.690771
XOF 555.425064
XPF 100.982218
YER 238.450382
ZAR 15.86044
ZMK 9001.199529
ZMW 18.793395
ZWL 321.999592
  • RBGPF

    0.1000

    82.5

    +0.12%

  • JRI

    -0.0300

    13.14

    -0.23%

  • BCC

    -3.0400

    83.62

    -3.64%

  • CMSC

    0.0160

    23.896

    +0.07%

  • GSK

    0.4200

    59.54

    +0.71%

  • NGG

    1.5500

    93.93

    +1.65%

  • CMSD

    0.0100

    23.69

    +0.04%

  • RELX

    1.4700

    32.69

    +4.5%

  • BCE

    -0.4000

    25.63

    -1.56%

  • AZN

    -0.8200

    205.79

    -0.4%

  • RIO

    2.6700

    100.78

    +2.65%

  • VOD

    0.1600

    15.86

    +1.01%

  • RYCEF

    -0.2900

    17.71

    -1.64%

  • BTI

    1.1200

    63.03

    +1.78%

  • BP

    -0.2100

    38.09

    -0.55%

Cuba coast guard kills four on US-registered speedboat
Cuba coast guard kills four on US-registered speedboat / Photo: © AFP

Cuba coast guard kills four on US-registered speedboat

Cuba's coast guard said Wednesday it shot dead four people and wounded six others traveling in a US-registered speedboat during an exchange of gunfire near its shores, triggering a new source of tension with Washington.

Text size:

Havana did not reveal the nationalities of the passengers aboard the Florida-registered boat nor why it was approaching the communist-run island, which is under strict US sanctions.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington was seeking its own facts about the shooting and would “respond accordingly.”

"We're not going to base our conclusions on what they've (Cuba) told us, and I'm very, very confident that we will know the full story of what happened here," Rubio told reporters while on a trip to the Caribbean nation of St Kitts and Nevis.

"As we gather more information, then we'll be prepared to respond accordingly," he said.

In Washington, US Vice President JD Vance said the White House was "monitoring" the situation and that "hopefully it's not as bad as we fear it could be."

Vance added that he had been briefed by Rubio, who is attending a summit of the Caribbean Community, but "we don't know a whole lot of details."

The attorney general of Florida, which lies just 100 miles (160 kilometers) from Cuba across the Florida Straits, ordered an investigation into the killings.

The Cuban interior ministry said the coast guard encountered the "illegal" US vessel, registration number FL7726SH, one nautical mile from Cayo Falcones island off Cuba's northern coast.

As the coast guard vessel approached, "shots were fired from the illegal speedboat," injuring the commander of the Cuban vessel, the ministry said.

"As a result of the clash, at the time of this report, on the foreign side, four aggressors were killed and six others were wounded," the ministry said, adding that the injured were evacuated and received medical assistance.

It did not give the exact origin of the boat.

The Cuban government frequently reports incursions by speedboats from the United States into its territorial waters.

The interior ministry said it was still investigating the incident and remained committed to protecting Cuban waters.

- People smuggling -

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.

Shortages of food and medicine and daily blackouts drove an exodus from the island in recent years, with many heading to southern Florida, which has received waves of Cuban migration since the 1960s.

Wednesday's shootings came as Washington softened a virtual oil siege of the island imposed by President Donald Trump in January after the US ouster of a top Cuba ally, Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela.

Before Maduro's ouster by US forces on January 3, Cuba had relied on Venezuela, once a major oil producer, for about half its fuel needs.

Faced with an outcry from Caribbean leaders, worried that starving 9.6 million Cubans of oil would cause the economy to collapse, Washington said it would allow shipments of Venezuelan oil for "commercial and humanitarian use."

The announcement came during the summit of Caribbean nations attended by Rubio, a Cuban-American who has spent his career hoping to topple Havana's government.

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.

The US oil blockade in place for over a month has brought an already crumbling Cuban economy, which has been under a US trade embargo since shortly after Fidel Castro's 1959 revolution, to the brink.

Mexico on Tuesday dispatched two military vessels carrying nearly 2,200 tons of aid to the island -- its second aid shipment in under a month.

Canada also announced Can$8 million ($5.8 million) in aid on Wednesday.

A.Sun--ThChM