A US-flagged speedboat carrying armed men departed Florida and was intercepted in Cuban territorial waters with fatal results. At least four people were killed, including a US citizen. Cuba has charged six suspects with terrorism and says a second boat on a parallel mission also failed to reach its objective.
FBI agents have arrived in Havana to investigate. Secretary of State Marco Rubio called the incident ‘highly unusual.’ The Trump administration has denied any government involvement.
The details invite a certain line of questioning. Armed men. Speedboats from Florida. A destination in Cuba. A parallel operation. This is not unfamiliar territory in the history of US-Cuba relations.
The Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961 was launched by armed men in boats from Florida. Operation Mongoose, the CIA’s covert campaign against Cuba in the 1960s, used exactly this kind of maritime infiltration. The playbook has not changed in sixty years — only the technology has.
Whether this operation was government-sanctioned, privately funded, or something in between is a question that may take years to answer. The Trump administration’s denial is noted. So is the fact that such denials have a long and well-documented history of eventually being contradicted by declassified records.
Cuba’s decision to charge the survivors with terrorism under its legal framework is its prerogative as a sovereign nation. The US response — sending FBI agents while officially denying involvement — is the kind of diplomatic posture that says less than it intends to.
