Cuba reports fifth death from speedboat with American flag involved in shooting

Cuban authorities said Thursday that a fifth crew member of a U.S.-flagged speedboat involved in a shootout with the coast guard Last week he died from his injuries.

Prosecutors have presented terrorism charges against the surviving crew of the ship, suspected of trying to bring weapons to Cuba in the hope of destabilizing the communist government in Havana.

One of the six survivors, identified as Roberto Álvarez Ávila, “died on March 4 due to the wounds he received,” the Ministry of the Interior reported in a statement.

The shooting occurred on February 25 when a coast guard vessel approached the ship to demand identification and the crew responded by opening fire.

The Cuban coast guard shot dead four other people aboard the ship, which approached within a nautical mile of the Caribbean island’s coast.

Cuban officials say the speedboat, registered in the United States, was carrying firearms of various calibers, including 14 rifles, 11 pistols and nearly 13,000 cartridges.

The Interior Ministry added that the investigation into the incident was progressing with the cooperation of US authorities, “including the sharing of evidence and other joint actions.”

At least two of those aboard the speedboat were American citizens, one of whom died.

According to the official and an incident report from the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office in Florida, the boat’s owner alleged that the vessel had been stolen by an employee.

President Donald Trump’s administration has made no secret of its Desire for regime change in Cuba.imposing an energy blockade following the overthrow of leftist autocrat Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela, who was the communist island’s main oil supplier.

the brother of one of the men who was murdered in the speedboat incident he said his brother was obsessed with overthrowing the Cuban government.

Misael Ortega Casanova, brother of Michael Ortega Casanova, told the AP that his brother had fallen into an “obsessive and diabolical” quest to free Cuba from its communist government. Cubans in the United States and Cuban Americans have long protested against the current Cuban government and accused the island’s leaders of human rights violations.

“They became so obsessed that they didn’t think about the consequences or their own lives,” Casanova said of his brother and the other men who were aboard the ship.