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The Cuban government<\/span> said it returned fire following an attack by passengers on a Florida-based speedboat that had entered its territorial waters on Wednesday. Cuba\u2019s Ministry of the Interior said its border guards killed at least four people aboard the U.S. boat and wounded six others.<\/p>\n A U.S. government official said the firefight did not involve U.S. Navy or Coast Guard vessels but a civilian boat. The speedboat approached within one nautical mile northeast of the El Pino channel north of Corralillo, a town in the central Cuban province of Villa Clara, according to an official statement<\/a> by the Cuban government.<\/p>\n Cuban border guards on a government vessel approached the speedboat seeking identification when people aboard the American boat opened fire on the Cuban personnel, wounding the Cuban vessel\u2019s commander, the statement said.<\/p>\n \u201cAs a result of the confrontation, at the time of this report, four foreign attackers were killed and six were wounded,\u201d according to the Cuban government.<\/p>\n The firefight comes during a pressure campaign by the Trump administration that is causing immense hardship on the island. In the past, the U.S. military drew up secret plans for a false-flag attack in Cuban waters to justify a U.S. military intervention.<\/p>\n The U.S. military\u00a0has been regularly carrying out attacks on supposed drug boats in the Caribbean<\/a>, the most recent on Monday, killing three people. There have now been 44 such attacks in the Caribbean and Pacific Ocean, killing at least 151 people since September<\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Cuban government said on Wednesday that the \u201cinjured individuals were evacuated and received medical assistance.\u201d The U.S. government, by contrast, has killed survivors clinging to wreckage<\/a> or left boat strike victims<\/a> to drown<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Defense Department and the U.S. Coast Guard referred all questions about Wednesday\u2019s attack to the State Department, which did not reply to multiple requests for comment.<\/p>\n Florida Rep. Carlos Gimenez called for revenge on Wednesday, despite the fact that all reports indicate that the American boat attacked the Cuban vessel. \u201cThe dictatorship in #Cuba has just attacked a boat from Florida & murdered those on board,\u201d he wrote<\/a> on X. \u201cThis regime must be relegated to the dust bin of history!\u201d<\/p>\n The Trump administration has been ratcheting up pressure on Cuba\u2019s Communist government and extreme pain on its people, cutting off foreign oil shipments and other revenue sources that had kept Cuba\u2019s rickety economy afloat.\u00a0The pain has increased\u00a0after oil shipments from Venezuela, its main supplier, were halted after the U.S. attacked the South American country<\/a>, kidnapped its then-president Nicol\u00e1s Maduro, and began running the country via a puppet regime. Mexico, another major petroleum supplier, also\u00a0suspended oil shipments<\/a>\u00a0under U.S. pressure. This has sparked a humanitarian catastrophe of food, medicine, and fuel shortages, raging inflation, prolonged blackouts, and service cuts at hospitals.<\/p>\n \u201cIn the face of current challenges, Cuba reaffirms its determination to protect its territorial waters,\u201d the Cuban government said in a statement. \u201cBased on the principle that national defense is a fundamental pillar of the Cuban State in safeguarding its sovereignty and ensuring stability in the region.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n