US lawmaker demands access to Americans held in Cuba, questions Havana's version of boat shooting

ISTANBUL

A US Republican congressman pressed for answers Thursday about a shooting on a speedboat off Cuba's coast where Havana forces killed four people, and he demanded access to six others involved who are currently in Cuban custody.

"I want to know exactly what happened in that incident, and I want access to the six remaining Americans that are in Cuban hands right now," Rep. Carlos Gimenez from the state of Florida told Fox News. "I don't trust the Cuban government in anything. Their story has already changed."

Gimenez questioned Cuba's characterization of those on board as terrorists, noting that Havana initially described the shooting as a human smuggling operation before changing its account. "We need to get to the bottom of it."

On the question of nationality, Gimenez said Cuba routinely considers anyone of Cuban origin to be a Cuban national regardless of their US citizenship or residency status. "I'm a member of Congress - in Cuba, I'm considered a Cuban national," he said, adding that he believed those on board had come from the United States.

He pushed back on descriptions of the vessel, saying it was "a 24-foot open fisherman with one 300-horsepower engine" carrying 10 people, not a speedboat as widely reported.

Gimenez said the Cuban government was "in its weakest position" and it is "the closest we've been to seeing a free Cuba," urging the Trump administration to maintain pressure on Havana.

"It's time for the regime to go," he said, demanding free and democratic elections.

Gimenez was more forceful on US social media company X, writing that the Cuban government "must be completely annihilated and relegated to the ash heap of history" as he demanded "no impunity for this evil dictatorship."

Cuba's coast is roughly 145 kilometers (90 miles) from Gimenez's congressional district, the southernmost in the continental US.

Havana said Wednesday that it intercepted a vessel carrying 10 armed individuals who opened fire on border guards, killing four and wounding six. Havana described the incident as a "foiled armed infiltration."

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington was independently verifying the details provided by Cuba.