U.S. launches investigation after Cuba kills 4 on Florida boat

U.S. officials are looking into an announcement by Cuba's government that it killed four people aboard a Florida-tagged boat near the Villa Clara coast on Wednesday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said.

The Trump administration has already signaled an openness to regime change in Cuba, and the incident that Cuban officials claim was "intended to carry out an infiltration for terrorist purposes" risks another escalation between Washington and Havana.

Rubio told reporters U.S. officials were still gathering facts about what happened and the nationalities and residential statuses of those on the boat, with the Department of Homeland Security and Coast Guard involved in the independent investigation. There was no U.S. government operation in Cuba and no American government personnel was involved, per Rubio.

"We're going to find out exactly what happened here, and then we'll respond accordingly," said Rubio, the Miami-born son of Cuban immigrants, as he attended a conference in the Caribbean dual-island nation of St. Kitts and Nevis on Wednesday.

"It is highly unusual to see shootouts in open sea like that. It's not something that happens every day. It's something, frankly, that hasn't happened with Cuba in a very long time."

Cuba's Interior Ministry claimed that the U.S.-registered boat, which came within one nautical mile northeast of a town in central Cuba, opened fire on the island's border patrol after security forces tried to identify the passengers.

The ministry said the speedboat was carrying 10 armed Cubans who live in the U.S. when the incident happened and the six wounded were taken for medical treatment on the Caribbean island that's some 90 miles south of Key West, Florida, per the Interior.

"Assault rifles, handguns, homemade explosive devices (Molotov cocktails), bulletproof vests, telescopic sights, and camouflage uniforms were seized," the statement said.

"In the face of current challenges, Cuba reaffirms its determination to protect its territorial waters, based on the principle that national defense is a fundamental pillar of the Cuban State in safeguarding its sovereignty and ensuring stability in the region," the government said on X.

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier said his office will work with "federal, state and law enforcement partners" to launch its own investigation. "The Cuban government cannot be trusted, and we will do everything in our power to hold these communists accountable," he added.

Vice President JD Vance told reporters Wednesday afternoon that Rubio briefed him on the matter and officials were monitoring the situation. "It's hopefully not as bad as we fear it could be," he added.

Rep. Carlos Gimenez (R-Fla.) in a statement that called for an investigation into the incident said U.S. authorities must "determine whether any of the victims were U.S. citizens or legal residents and establish exactly what occurred." "The regime in Cuba must be relegated to the dustbin of history for its countless crimes against humanity."

Rubio has been holding secret talks with the grandson and caretaker of Cuba's aging de facto dictator, Raul Castro, as the U.S. places unprecedented pressure on Havana's regime, three sources told Axios last week.

The shooting comes just one day after the 30th anniversary of the Brothers to the Rescue shooting, where Cuban authorities took down two planes the Florida humanitarian organization used to search for Cuban refugees.