At least one U.S. citizen was killed in a deadly incident in Cuban waters Wednesday, and another U.S. citizen was injured, two U.S. officials told NBC News.
Cuban officials had said its military killed four men and captured six others who were injured after they entered Cuban waters aboard a Florida-registered boat near the island nation’s northeastern coast. The Cuban government said they were armed and initiated the firefight.
Cuba vowed to defend itself against “terrorist and mercenary aggression” as more information emerged about the U.S.-based Cuban men accused by the government of “foiled armed infiltration.”
Other passengers on the boat may be U.S. legal permanent residents, the U.S. officials said, but they have not yet confirmed. A third person on the boat was in the U.S. on a K-1 visa, which allows a foreigner to enter the United States to marry a U.S. citizen.
The new details of the men's legal status were first reported by Axios.
The country's president, Miguel Díaz-Canel, said Thursday that “Cuba will defend itself with determination and firmness against any terrorist and mercenary aggression that seeks to affect its sovereignty and national stability.”
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Wednesday the U.S. will carry out an independent investigation before it responds, adding they are going to independently verify the information shared by the Cuban government "and reach our own conclusions.”
Family, friends and associates who spoke with NBC and Telemundo about the U.S.-based Cubans involved in the incident said the men were known to be opposed to the Cuban government.
A congressional aide told NBC News that there is no indication of any U.S. government link to any of the people on board. Two sources close to one of the detained men said that at least some of the men aboard the boat were affiliated with a paramilitary group that is opposed to Cuba's government.
Members of the Cuban Government have been in touch with the U.S. Coast Guard and the U.S. Department of State as they further investigate the incident, Carlos Fernandez de Cossio, Cuba's deputy minister of foreign affairs, said in a press conference Thursday afternoon.
"An investigation is underway to clarify the facts with the utmost rigor," De Cossio said. "The Cuban government is willing to exchange information with the United States on this matter."
Among the four people killed, the Cuban government has only identified Michel Ortega Casanova as one of the fatal victims as of Thursday afternoon.
In an interview with Telemundo's Tampa station, Ortega Casanova's brother spoke about his sibling's actions in the context of their opposition to the Cuban government.
“One way or another this battle has to end,” Misael Ortega Casanova, Michel's brother, told Telemundo 49.
"Today it was my brother's turn, and those who fell alongside him. I don't justify the method or the action," he said in Spanish during an interview in Casa Cuba de Tampa, an organization for Cuban exiles. “For those who, in one way or another, have had to give their lives, both at home and abroad, for this freedom that we all long for and that has cost us the loss of family and the suffering of separation.”
Ibrahim Bosch, president of the Partido Republicano de Cuba, an organization that opposes the Cuban regime, said Michel was a member of their group. But in a statement shared on social media Thursday morning, he said "the organization’s leadership was completely unaware of his intentions, plans, or participation in said event."
The Cuban government also identified six of the men they say were in the boat and are now detained in Cuba.
Two of them, Amijail Sánchez González and Leordan Cruz Gómez, were previously designated by the Cuban government as individuals wanted for "their involvement in the promotion, planning, organization, financing, support or commission of actions carried out in the national territory or in other countries, in connection with acts of terrorism,” according to a Cuban state media report, citing a statement from the Interior Ministry.
NBC News was not immediately able to independently verify that information.
A Cuban man in Miami said his name also appears on the list from the Cuban government as one of the men who was captured.
“They say they have me detained, and I’m here in the United States,” Roberto Azcorra Consuegra told Telemundo’s Miami station.
Azcorra Consuegra said in Spanish he knows those who were involved in the incident because they all belong to different organizations opposed to the Cuban government.
"We are all young people who want freedom for our country," Azcorra Consuegra said, adding that he did not have any plans to go to Cuba.
Asked why Cuba’s government would include his name on the list, Azcorra Consuegra said, “they know me. They know me well, they know everything.”
The wife and daughter of Conrado Galindo Sariol, one of the six men who were captured, told Telemundo's Miami station they were surprised to hear their loved one was involved in the incident.
"We knew nothing, it caught us and everyone else, off guard," María de Jesús Galindo, Galindo Sariol's daughter, said in Spanish.
She said her father was tortured for his activism in Cuba and imprisoned for seven years. She now worries that he will be tortured again, or even killed, now that he's in custody of the Cuban governemt.
Galindo Sariol’s wife, Ana Seguí, said her husband "is not a terrorist, nor has he ever had a weapon."
"He was against the Cuban government, that's true. He protested on all social media platforms, that's true. But he's not a terrorist," Seguí said. "He's a hero to me because all he dreams of is the freedom of Cuba."
In a June 2025 show that aired on the U.S. funded news-site Martí Noticias, Galindo Sariol talked about the worsening situation in the eastern part of Cuba, an area which has been more impacted by power outages and food shortages. Sariol talked about prisoners in the province of Camaguey who he said were being harassed and how relatives could support them.
Galindo Sariol was described as a "legend" by show host, Jorge Luis Garcia Perez, known as Antúnez, who was also a political prisoner in Cuba.
Boat was reported stolen
The Florida-registered boat believed to have been used by the men was reported stolen on Wednesday, according to an incident report from the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office in Florida obtained by NBC News. According to the police report, the boat's owner said an employee had stolen the vessel.
FBI agents were later seen knocking at the door of the South Florida home listed on the boat's registration. People inside the home declined to comment when approached by a reporter from Telemundo Miami. The owner of the boat does not appear on the list of names released by the Cuban government.
The incident comes as tensions have risen between the U.S. and Cuba. Many Cuban Americans in Miami have been hopeful that the 67-year-old dictatorship will soon come to an end.
Since the U.S. captured former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, the Trump administration has turned its focus on Cuba. Trump has said "Cuba will be failing pretty soon" and has also stated the U.S. is holding talks with Cuban leaders. At the same time, the administration has turned up the pressure by blocking oil shipments to the island.
The decrease in fuel, which was already scarce, has worsened a humanitarian crisis that has been unfolding for the past few years, with shortages of basic necessities and fewer essential services like regular trash collection.
