A Florida-tagged speedboat attacked Cuban border patrol forces in Cuban waters today, leading to a shootout where Cuban border guard troops killed four people and injured six others on that boat.
As details emerge, experts stress the incident follows a track record of exile-led attacks on the island nation — which, this time around, might spark further hostilities between the U.S. and Cuba.
“Since the Cuban Revolution of 1959, there is a long record of Cuban exiles and others hostile to Havana attacking Cuba and drawing retaliatory attacks, both sides then using the incidents to fuel their propaganda,” Alan McPherson, professor at Temple University who specializes in the history of U.S.-Latin America relations, told RS.
“Given the heightened tension between the Trump administration and Cuba, one hopes that the alleged attackers were not trying to prompt military action by the U.S. government or, worse, that they were acting as agents of it. It is almost certain that they were at least inspired by the recent moves by the administration to hasten the end of the Cuban regime,” McPherson said. Läs artikel