Cuba charges six exiles with terrorism in speedboat attack
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A vendor sits along a street, following an armed incident involving a Florida-registered speedboat and a Cuban patrol, in Santa Clara, Cuba, on Feb 26.
PHOTO: REUTERS
HAVANA – Cuban prosecutors formally charged six people with “crimes of terrorism” and ordered them held in pre-trial detention on March 3, in connection with an incident last week in which Cuban forces killed four Cuban nationals and wounded six others aboard a speedboat that entered Cuban waters.
Cuba’s Interior Ministry announced the gun battle at sea on Feb 25, accusing the Cuban exiles of opening fire on a border guard vessel, saying they came from the US with the intent to sow chaos and attack military units on the Communist-ruled island.
Cuban forces returned fire and took the six survivors into custody, Cuba said.
There was no further update as to the condition of the wounded detainees, nor their whereabouts at a time of heightened tensions between the US and Cuba. Washington has effectively halted all oil shipments to the Communist-ruled island while demanding political and economic changes.
Cuban officials have said the purported infiltrators came armed with nearly 13,000 rounds of ammunition, 13 rifles and 11 pistols, displaying the captured armaments from the studio on a special television programme on Feb 27.
They also showed pictures of the vessels, each peppered with bullet holes from the firefight they said took place at a range of 20m.
Cuba has said at least two of those taken into custody had been previously placed on a list of accused terrorists.
Prosecutor Edward Robert Campbell told the state television programme on Feb 27 that the accused faced a host of possible charges including crimes associated with terrorist acts.
If convicted, they could face prison terms of up to 10 to 15 years for the lesser offences and 20 to 30 years – or even the death penalty – for the more serious charges, Mr Campbell said.
US politicians have expressed scepticism over Cuba’s version of events, calling for independent investigations. Secretary of State Marco Rubio it was not a US operation and that no US government personnel were involved. REUTERS
