US citizen killed, another wounded in Cuba boat shooting, State Department says

Claire Heddles, Miami Herald on Feb 26, 2026

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One of the four people the Cuban government said it killed in an open-water shootout Wednesday is an American citizen, the U.S. State Department confirmed Thursday evening.

The spokesperson told the Miami Herald one of the people injured was a citizen as well, a third person involved in the incident was on a visa for fiancés of U.S. citizens and “others may be legal permanent residents.”

The news comes more than a day after the Cuban government said it had killed four people and detained six on a Florida-registered boat after a shootout.

The revelations that at least one of those killed was an American citizen is one of the few pieces of information the State Department has publicly revealed since Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters Wednesday evening, “We will know quickly many more facts about this incident than we know right now.”

President Donald Trump stayed silent on the matter throughout the day Thursday and the State Department revealed little in the 24 hours after the Cuban government’s announcement — leaving the Cuban government’s narrative as the only public information about the shoot-out, even as U.S. officials say they’re notoriously unreliable.

The Cuban government has alleged those aboard “intended to carry out an infiltration for terrorist purposes,” and said they seized including assault rifles, handguns, homemade explosives and body armor from the boat.

The dramatic shootout detailed by the Cuban government is “highly unusual,” Rubio said Wednesday. It also comes on the backdrop of an escalating humanitarian crisis in Cuba after the U.S. cut off its supply of oil from Venezuela and as Rubio’s team has been having secret talks with Raul Castro’s grandson — including in Saint Kitts and Nevis on the day of the alleged shoot out.