Havana — Senior Cuban Interior Ministry officials revealed for the first time late Friday items they said were on board a plane Florida flag speedboat That opened fire on troops in the waters off the island’s northern coast this week, and soldiers responded and killed four of the suspects.
The officials also revealed to the Associated Press that authorities were able to confirm that the 10 Cuban suspects left the United States on two boats, but one failed, so they transferred all supplies to the other and left the other adrift.
The government said that the detained suspects revealed these details and confirmed that they were I immediately called the US Coast Guard.
Among the items Cuban officials said were on the boat: dozens of high-powered weapons, including one with binoculars; a large cooler filled with more than 12,800 pieces of ammunition; 11 pistols; heavy boots and helmets equipped with cameras; And camouflage backpacks.
“We were clearly able to assess that we were facing a terrorist act from a boat coming from the United States,” Senior Colonel Ivey Daniel Carballo of the Cuban Border Patrol told the AP.
According to Carballo, the 30-foot (nine meter) Border Patrol boat detected an intruder on Wednesday morning and approached to within about 600 feet (185 meters) to investigate, but was met by heavy-caliber fire.
He added that three of the attackers were killed instantly, and a fourth was wounded and died later.
Caraballo said the speedboat was located about 1 mile (1.6 kilometers) northeast of Cayo Falcones off the island’s northern coast. He added that the border guard commander was injured.
Victor Eduardo Alvarez Valle, one of the heads of criminal investigations for state security at the Interior Ministry, told the AP that authorities were surprised by the resistance they faced.
“We did not expect that, especially with so many people and weapons,” he said.
Alvarez added: “The attackers identified the military equipment they found on board the ship, including where and how they obtained it, and the training they received. They also revealed the identity of who financed it.”
He noted that officials discovered 13 bullet holes in the Border Patrol boat and another 21 bullet holes in the suspect’s ship, “which means there was a fight.”
The Cuban government said Wednesday that one person had been arrested on the ground, but Alvarez said that so far, there is no information that the suspects have any support network on the island.
A Cuban prosecutor in the Attorney General’s Office, Edward Robert Campbell, told the AP that the six detainees, all of Cuban descent, could face terrorism charges, which could carry a penalty of up to 30 years in prison, life imprisonment or even the death penalty, although the latter has been under ban for more than a decade.
The Associated Press was granted access to Cuban military officials and viewed the items on display at the headquarters of the former Cuban Institute of Radio and Television before they were shown to the public for the first time.
we Secretary of State Marco Rubio He said it was not a US government operation and that US government He was collecting his own information.