Cuba Says Florida-Based Speedboat Raiders Confessed and Face Terrorism Charges That Carry Death Penalty

Cuba's government says the men it captured after a deadly February speedboat incursion from Florida have confessed and cooperated with investigators, and that they could face terrorism charges that carry the death penalty. The announcement, made Monday, Oct. 19, by Col. Francisco Estrada Portales of the Interior Ministry's State Security department, revives one of the most volatile episodes of the year between Havana and Miami's exile community, and lands in the same week a Miami-Dade judge signed a state arrest warrant for former Cuban leader Raúl Castro.

Cuban authorities showed The Associated Press video of statements by the suspects. AP said it could not independently verify the contents of the recordings or the circumstances under which the statements were made. Statements by detainees held by Cuba's State Security apparatus have long been viewed with skepticism by human rights groups and by exile leaders in South Florida.

What Cuba announced

According to Estrada, the confessions and cooperation of the detainees showed that Amijail Sánchez, a Cuban who has lived in the United States since 2016, fired the first shots at a Cuban coast guard vessel. Sánchez is in custody and appeared on a list of alleged terrorists that Cuba submitted to the United Nations last year, according to AP. Another detained man, Leordan Cruz, who is also on Cuba's terrorism list, said in one recording that the group intended to secure an area and encourage Cubans to rise up against the government.

Estrada said forensic examinations found the seized weapons and explosives were powerful and operational. He told reporters that the weapons and explosives were all in good working condition and ready to be used to cause harm, AP reported. The men could face terrorism charges involving deadly devices and explosives under Cuba's penal code. Prosecutors have not yet requested specific sentences, and Cuba has not carried out an execution in decades; it has observed a moratorium since 2003.

Cuban officials said they shared their findings with the United States but had received no response as of Monday.

The Feb. 25 incident

On the morning of Feb. 25, according to Cuban authorities, a Florida-registered speedboat carrying 10 men of Cuban origin who lived in the United States entered Cuban waters about a mile northeast of Cayo Falcones, off the island's north coast in Villa Clara province. When a coast guard vessel moved to intercept it, Cuba says, the men opened fire, wounding the patrol boat's captain. Cuban forces returned fire.

Three of the men were killed in the exchange and a fourth later died of his injuries, according to AP's account of the Interior Ministry briefing. Earlier Cuban statements reported by NBC 6 South Florida in March had counted a fifth death, a man the Cuban embassy identified as Roberto Álvarez Ávila; Cuba's casualty figures have varied across its announcements. Authorities also arrested a man on land who they allege provided support to the group.

Cuba previously displayed what it said was seized from the boat: rifles, handguns, explosives, uniforms, helmets, medical supplies, satellite communications equipment and thousands of rounds of ammunition. On March 4, Cuban prosecutors charged six suspects with terrorism and ordered them held in pretrial detention, AP reported at the time.

The Florida connections

The boat itself came from Florida. The Monroe County Sheriff's Office said it had been reported stolen in the Florida Keys, and its registered owner denied any involvement. A U.S. official told Reuters in February that at least two of the men aboard were U.S. citizens. Relatives of one of the dead, Michel Ortega Casanova, confirmed he was a U.S. citizen and said he had tried to recruit people in Florida for an effort to overthrow the Cuban government, according to published accounts compiled at the time.

Cuba has also accused Maritza Lugo Fernández, a former Cuban political prisoner who has lived in Miami since going into exile in 2000, of organizing and financing the expedition. Lugo, a leader of the anti-communist 30 de Noviembre movement, did not take part in the raid. She denied the accusations in an interview with Martí Noticias, saying she was not responsible for training or financing the group, calling the charges absurd, and asking President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio for urgent diplomatic intervention.

How Washington and Tallahassee responded

Rubio, a Miami native, called the shootout highly unusual in February and said the United States would gather its own information rather than rely on Havana's version. He said the incursion was not a U.S. operation and that no U.S. government personnel were involved, and that the Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Coast Guard were investigating.

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier ordered the Office of Statewide Prosecution to coordinate with federal and state partners, saying Cuba's claims needed independent verification. Rep. Carlos Giménez of Miami and Sen. Rick Scott called for a thorough federal investigation and questioned Cuba's account.

In late March, an FBI technical team traveled to Cuba as part of what the U.S. Embassy in Havana called a thorough and independent investigation. An embassy official told AFP the United States would independently verify the facts and make decisions based solely on U.S. interest, U.S. law and the protection of U.S. citizens. The FBI's findings have not been made public, and no federal charges connected to the incursion have been announced. Neither the State Department nor the Justice Department had publicly responded to Cuba's Oct. 19 announcement as of Thursday.

A tense backdrop

The renewed accusations arrive at a high point of pressure between the two governments. Washington has imposed energy restrictions on the island as part of a campaign to force a change in government and has not ruled out military action, AP noted. In January, Trump signed an executive order declaring a national emergency over Cuba.

In Miami, the case has taken on new resonance this week. On Oct. 19, the same day Cuba made its announcement, a Miami-Dade judge signed a no-bond state arrest warrant for Raúl Castro over the 1996 Brothers to the Rescue shootdown, in which Cuban MiG fighters killed four men flying for the Miami exile group over the Florida Straits. For many exiles, Havana's prosecution of the speedboat crew as terrorists stands in stark contrast to its leaders' own unanswered charges in Florida.

Some Miami exiles raised doubts about Cuba's version of the February raid from the start, AP reported at the time. Lugo marked the deaths on Facebook with a post saying there is no greater act of love or sacrifice than giving one's life for brothers and homeland.

What's next

Cuba has not announced a trial date or said which specific penalties prosecutors will seek. Any trial would take place in Cuba's courts, where the government controls access for outside observers.

The bigger open question for Floridians is what U.S. investigators found. With Cuba saying it has handed over evidence and confessions, pressure is likely to grow on the FBI and the Justice Department to say whether anyone in Florida helped plan, finance or arm the expedition, a potential violation of federal laws against launching military expeditions from U.S. soil, or whether the confessions should be discounted as the product of Cuban State Security custody.