Name: Cuban officials: Multiple killed after armed confrontation in Cuba's waters
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With breaking news right now and reports of a deadly confrontation in Cuban territorial waters between Cuban troops and people on an American registered speedboat.

Cuba's Ministry of the Interior says a speedboat they say with a Florida registration opened fire on Cuban border guard troops this morning.

The ministry says it happened when the troops approached the American boat to request identification and that the commander of the Cuban vessel was injured.

The ministry says the troops then return fire, killing four people aboard that boat and injuring six others in the confrontation.

The injured have been taken back to Cuba to be treated medically.

Again, this is all coming right now from the Cuban government.

So as we get more information, we will bring it to you.

I do want to bring in NBC News senior White House correspondent Gabe Gutierrez.

And Gabe, this is such a serious situation because of the rhetoric between the United States and the Cuban government just recently, I think less than two weeks ago, the Cuban president, the leader of Cuba, saying that that Cuba was ready for war with the United States in the wake of what's happened in Venezuela and that they were on alert for anything that might happen there.

Again, sometimes these these incidents happen in those waters.

We should mention the location where this happened is very close to the Bahamian border as well, where there is usually lots of both drug smuggling and people smuggling as well, Cubans trying to flee the communist oppression there.

What do we know right now coming from either our Coast Guard or the White House right now?

Well, Tom, there are a lot of unanswered questions right now.

We are out to White House officials trying to get any more details on this.

But so far, as you said, all we know is from the Cuban side at this point, they say four people are dead and six others on that boat, which was registered in Florida, have been injured.

And also, Tom, another border guard troop from the Cuban side was also wounded, according to the Cuban government.

Now, this all comes, as you said, amid ramped up tensions between the two countries in the wake of the capture of Venezuela's Nicolas Maduro.

There have been significant fuel shortages in Cuba over the last few weeks and there have been questions about what the US Plans to do next year.

The president himself recently saying that he expects the Cuban government to fall.

And Tom, right now Secretary of State Marco Rubio is in the Caribbean in the island of St.

Kitts and Neves meeting with Caribbean leaders.

Again, we're out to the State Department as well for any comment.

But Tom, a lot of unanswered questions here about who exactly was on that boat and what led to this confrontation.

And, Gabe, right now, the only information we're getting from the US Government is coming from elected representatives in Congress from South Florida who are putting this news out there.

But again, we're not hearing from the State Department or anyone else just yet.

Again, we're still awaiting any confirmation about who exactly was on that boat.

But it comes, as you know, there has been this huge military buildup on the other side of the Caribbean.

And also the Trump administration has been really escalating its rhetoric towards the Cuban government.

Secretary of State Rubio, of course, from his Cuban American, and

has made a large part of his political career being very, you know, wanting to topple essentially the Cuban government, the Communist government there.

But again, at this point, we do not have any detail about who was on that boat.

As we look at this map here, I'm going to bring in Jose Diaz Bullard.

I want to show the viewers exactly where this is happening right now.

Jose, talk our viewers through, through the location here.

Right, because again, where you see that little white dot at the top of north northwest Cuba, this is where the incident, according to the Cubans, happened, one nautical mile off those keys off the north of Cuba.

So this is very close to the Bahamian border.

Again, case Sao bank, which is an area people go to fish, but

also people where they go to drop off sometimes Cubans, that they are smuggling Cuban refugees that are trying to leave the island.

Jose, we can't stress enough, this is such a sort of strenuous time right now between the US And Cuba.

And Cuba has made it very clear they are on alert for any type of US attack or any type of incursion that would happen in their country.

you know, it's striking to remember sometimes that Cuba is 90 miles away from Key west.

And so the proximity of the island to not only Florida, but

to the Bahamas, which is really a skip and a jump.

so far, the only source about this incident comes from the Cuban regime.

Important to recognize and also remember that that regime has oftentimes utilized humans for political purposes, sometimes releasing political prisoners when an American celebrity comes to the island or some person who requests that some political prisoners are released.

We have to also remember that it was the 24th of February, 1996, 30 years ago yesterday, that two small Cessnas from Brothers to the Rescue, a South Florida organization that was seeking rafters leaving the island, was shot down over international waters by the Cuban regime.

Four people were killed, three citizens, one American resident.

And remember, stay updated on breaking news and top stories on the NBC News app or watch live on our YouTube channel.