Havana - AFP. A U.S. embassy official in Havana announced that a team from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is currently in Cuba to investigate a shootout that took place at the end of February between the Cuban Coast Guard and a fast boat registered in the United States. Cuban authorities later reported the death of one of the wounded from the United States. This incident occurred at a time of particular tension between the U.S. and Cuba, following Washington's imposition of a petroleum siege on the island and demands for negotiation and change from Havana. Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel, who described the events as "an armed infiltration with terrorist purposes, financed and organized from U.S. territory," had already announced on March 13 that the island's government was expecting an FBI visit to collaborate in the investigation of the incident. "Information on the events was timely provided to the U.S. counterpart, which has expressed its interest in participating jointly in clarifying the facts through diplomatic and consular channels, and we are awaiting a possible FBI visit," he explained at a televised press conference. Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said after the incident that the Trump administration wanted to verify what happened through "independent information." A team from the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is in Havana to carry out an investigation into the February incident in Cuban waters involving a U.S.-speedboat in which five people died. "The FBI team arrived in Havana yesterday to carry out an independent and thorough investigation into the boat incident that occurred on February 25," a U.S. government source revealed to EFE on Wednesday. According to the Cuban government, the incident occurred when the island's border troops intercepted a fast boat from the United States in Cuban territorial waters with ten people on board — all of them Cubans residing in the U.S. — and a large quantity of weapons. According to Cuban authorities, fire was opened from the fast boat at the border guards, to which their agents responded. As a result, four crew members of the vessel died on the spot, while the other six were injured (as well as a Cuban officer).
