Cuban government identifies 10 men allegedly involved in deadly boat shootout

The Cuban government has released the identities of the ten men who they said opened fire on their troops during a shootout that left four of them dead and six others injured.

Pavel Alling Peña, Michael Ortega Casanova, Ledián Padrón Guevara, and Hector Duani Cruz Correa were the four men killed in Wednesday’s confrontation, Cuba’s vice minister of foreign affairs, Carlos Fernández de Cossío, said Thursday.

He identified the six injured men as Cristian Ernesto Acosta Guevara, Conrado Galindo Sariol, José Manuel Rodríguez Castelló, Leordán Cruz Gomez, Amijail Sanchez Gonzalez, and Roberto Alvarez Avila.

Fernández de Cossío said initial reports mistakenly mentioned Rolando Roberto Ascorra Consuegra, who was not part of the group.

The Cuban Ministry of the Interior said the people aboard the boat Wednesday were Cubans living in the U.S. and accused them of trying to infiltrate the country to engage in terrorism. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said it was not a U.S. government operation.

Cuban officials said two of them, Amijail Sánchez González and Leordan Enrique Cruz Gómez, are wanted by Cuban authorities “based on their involvement in the promotion, planning, organization, financing, support or commission” of terrorism.”

Michel Ortega Casanova’s brother, Misael Ortega Casanova, told The Associated Press that his sibling had developed an “obsessive and diabolical” quest for Cuba’s freedom given the suffering they endured on the island before moving to the U.S. He said his brother was an American citizen who lived in the U.S. for more than 20 years.

“Only us Cubans who have lived over there understand,” Misael Ortega Casanova said, referring to the “great suffering” that he and other Cubans on the island have faced.

He noted that his brother, who was a truck driver and an American citizen who lived for more than 20 years in the U.S., leaves behind his wife, his mother, two sisters — one of whom lives in Cuba — and a daughter who is pregnant.

“No one knew,” Misael said of his brother’s plans. “My mother is devastated.”

He added: “They became so obsessed that they didn’t think about the consequences nor their own lives.”

Misael said that he did not recognize any of the names that the Cuban government released.

Meanwhile, Galindo Sariol was identified as a former political prisoner in a 2025 interview with Martí Noticias, a U.S.-based news site that has long called for a change of government in Cuba.

Galindo, whom the host called “a legend” and a former political prisoner, was quoted as saying that he wants to support the struggles that Cubans face, especially in the eastern part of the island “to achieve the freedom that is needed.”

He said that the protests in Cuba at that time were “not a spark that’s going to be extinguished.”

“The regime’s leaders are crisscrossing Cuba, trying to mitigate what’s coming very soon because … they know they’re out of power, that they can’t do anything about it, and they’re looking for ways to prevent the protests from growing in other parts of the country,” Galindo was quoted as saying.

The Cuban government said it was a Florida-registered speedboat and that officials who searched it found assault rifles, handguns, homemade explosives, bulletproof vests, telescopic sights and camouflage uniforms.

Cuba said the boat that had entered Cuban waters and opened fire on the soldiers first, injuring one Cuban officer.

Rubio had told reporters Wednesday that the U.S. was gathering its own information to determine if the victims were American citizens or permanent residents.