Cuba situation ‘even more dire than usual’: Security expert on implications of boat shooting

An international security expert says a deadly shooting involving a Florida-registered speedboat is a sign that tensions between the U.S. and Cuba are quickly becoming “even more dire.”

“There has always been tension for 67 years since (former Cuban leader) Fidel Castro came to power, but they have been heightened under the Trump administration,” Jeanne Meserve, an international security expert, told CTV News Channel on Wednesday, just hours after the incident. She added that the strain between the two nations stems in part from what she described as U.S. President Donald Trump’s renewed focus on the Western Hemisphere, as well as mounting economic pressure on Havana.

• READ MORE: Cuba says it killed 4 people aboard Florida-registered speedboat that opened fire on soldiers

Cuba has long relied heavily on oil from Venezuela, Meserve noted, but those shipments have been disrupted amid U.S. pressure campaigns targeting the two Caribbean countries.

“The situation in Cuba has become even more dire than usual, because fuel is in such short supply (that) flights in and out of the country have virtually stopped,” she said. “Medicines have not been able to get in, and the tourism industry on which Cuba relies somewhat has been devastated.”

The government of Cuba said 10 armed Cubans residing in the U.S. who were trying to infiltrate the island nation opened fire on its soldiers late Wednesday.

Cuba made the announcement following an initial statement that soldiers killed four people and injured six, after a speedboat registered to an owner in Florida entered Cuban waters. The passengers of the speedboat allegedly opened fire on the soldiers, injuring one Cuban officer, the nation’s Interior Ministry said earlier on Wednesday.

The island nation’s government claimed most people aboard the boat “have a known history of criminal and violent activity.”

It identified two of the passengers on the boat as Amijail Sanchez Gonzalez and Leordan Enrique Cruz Gomez, who are wanted by the authorities “in connection with acts of terrorism.”

Cuban officials said a Duniel Hernandez Santos, was taken into custody, claiming he was “sent from the United States to guarantee the reception of the armed infiltration,” and that he “confessed to his actions.”

Seven of the 10 passengers of the boat were identified by Cuba as Conrado Galindo Sariol, Jose Manuel Rodriguez Castello, Cristian Ernesto Acosta Guevara and Roberto Azcorra Consuegra. One of the deceased was identified as Michel Ortega Casanova, while the other three remained unidentified as of Thursday morning.

Galindo Sariol, one of the people identified as a passenger, was previously interviewed by Marti Noticias, a U.S.-based news site that pushed for a change of regime in Cuba. The website referred to him as a former political prisoner who wanted to support the Cubans’ struggle to “achieve the freedom that is needed.”

Information about the identities of the passengers was obtained after the shootout, Cuban authorities said.

“The investigation process continues until the facts are fully clarified,” the ministry said in a statement.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he was made aware of the incident, and that American officials are in the process of gathering their own information, including whether any of the victims were U.S. citizens or permanent residents.

“We have various different elements of the U.S. government that are trying to identify elements of the story that may not be provided to us now,” Rubio said while at the airport in Basseterre, St. Kitts, where he was attending a regional summit with Caribbean leaders.

Rubio called the incident “unusual,” saying “it’s not something that happens every day.”

“The majority of the facts being publicly reported are those by the information provided by the Cubans,” Rubio said, adding that the U.S. would “verify that independently” as it “gathers more information” to “figure out exactly what happened.”

“There is always a lot of activity in this water, particularly when people are trying to get out of Cuba,” Meserve said.

She recalled being in Cuba during the 1999 Elián González episode, when a five-year-old boy was found at sea and became the centre of an international custody battle between relatives in the United States and his father in Cuba.

“That story sort of crystallized for many Americans just how many people were leaving Cuba and trying to come to the U.S.,” she said. “And the numbers in recent years have really been high because the economic situation there is so tough.”

With files from the Associated Press