Havana/Four people were killed and seven injured, including a Cuban officer, in an incident that occurred this Wednesday in the waters of Villa Clara that, contrary to its custom, the Ministry of the Interior immediately reported. In a brief statement, the authorities explain that in the morning “an offending speedboat was detected within Cuban territorial waters with the license plate of Florida, United States, with folio FL7726SH.”
The vessel, the text states, approached one nautical mile northeast of Canalizo El Pino, on the Villa Clara Key of Falcones. “When a surface unit of the Border Guard Troops of the Ministry of the Interior approached, with five combatants, for identification,” the note continues, “fire was opened on the Cuban troops from the offending boat, causing the commander of the Cuban boat to be injured.”
It is not clear at this time whether this was a matter related to drug trafficking or an attempted landing from the US coast.
The Ministry of the Interior reports on the deceased and injured below: “As a result of the confrontation, until the closing of this information, on the foreign side, four attackers were killed and six injured, who were evacuated and received medical assistance.”
The official statement assures that “investigations continue” to clarify the event. It is not clear at this time whether this was a matter related to drug trafficking, an illegal departure or an attempted disembarkation.
Before the Ministry of the Interior issued its note, the communicator Niover Licea published on his page Child Reporting a Crime different details about the confrontation on the north coast of Villa Clara. Thus, based on testimonies received from the area, he assures that there were three boats from the United States, which “would have arrived in the area known as La Panchita, in the municipality of Corralillo, and an exchange of shots would have occurred in the area.”
According to this version, there were “around 10 wounded” and “one of the members of the troops was taken by helicopter to the military hospital in Matanzas.” Licea continues, “a lighthouse located in the area where Border Guard troops operate” was also hit. The neighbors report, the communicator says, that the area is completely militarized, that access to the beaches is not allowed and the local workers cannot access it.
