U.S. Citizen Was Killed in Shootout With Cuban Patrol Boat

One of the suspects killed in a firefight between a Florida-registered speedboat and a Cuban border patrol vessel was an American citizen, multiple U.S. sources have confirmed.

According to the Cuban interior ministry, a border guard patrol boat spotted a suspicious speedboat off the town of Corallilo on Wednesday. The "illegal" speedboat opened fire, injuring the patrol commander, and the Cuban border guardsmen returned fire. Four people on the speedboat were killed, and six survivors were injured.

Cuban authorities said that assault rifles, camouflage uniforms, bulletproof vests and Molotov cocktails were retrieved from the boat. An 11th suspect who was caught on shore has confessed that the boat operation was part of a plan to infiltrate Cuba and stage an antigovernment attack, Cuban officials claimed.

Cuba has identified one of the deceased as Michel Ortega Casanova, a U.S. citizen. His brother, Misael, told the AP that Michel had an "obsessive" mission to free Cuba from socialist rule. "They became so obsessed that they didn’t think about the consequences nor their own lives," Misael told AP.

U.S. officials have confirmed that one of the deceased was a U.S. citizen. One additional American citizen was among the wounded, a U.S. official told NPR, and others may be U.S. permanent residents. It appears that their Florida-registered speedboat may have been stolen, the official said.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Thursday that the reported encounter was rare, and that multiple U.S. agencies were investigating to find out more. U.S. government tensions with Cuba are currently elevated, and the Trump administration has partially blockaded tanker traffic to the island; on Wednesday, the State Department appeared to ease its limits, and said that it would allow Venezuelan suppliers to resume selling to Cuban firms - so long as the Cuban entities are not government-controlled.