MIAMI (WSVN) - South Florida’s Cuban community is reacting to the shootout off the coast of Cuba that left four people dead and six others injured, and now lawmakers are among many who are questioning the Cuban government’s version of the incident.
Wednesday afternoon’s shooting, which took place about a mile northeast of Cayo Falcones and reportedly involved a stolen 20-foot boat, was the main topic of conversation at Cafe Versailles in Miami’s Little Havana neighborhood, Thursday morning.
Cuban Americans who spoke with 7News said they want answers.
“I’m just really, like, brokenhearted about what happened,” said Carlos Guillama.
“This concerns me, when people start dying out there. We’ve had too much death out there,” said Gus Garcia.
“I don’t believe anything that they say. They are very, very, very bad people,” said Raul Tejero.
Now they’re wondering what may have transpired.
“We don’t know at this point. In whichever case, there are people who have been – who are dead,” said Ramón Saúl Sánchez, leader of the Cuban exile organization Movimiento Democracia.
The Cuban regime claims the boat was carrying armed Cubans living in the U.S. who were trying to infiltrate the island and unleash terrorism.
But U.S. Rep. Carlos Gimenez, R-Fla., is skeptical about the accuracy of this account.
“We’re not going to believe the Cuban government and their version of events at face value because they’re notorious for giving misinformation,” he said. “Secretary Marco Rubio has said that we’re gonna conduct our own investigation and then we’ll conduct our own investigation, find out exactly what happened.”
The Cuban government identified the six detained passengers as Amijail Sánchez González, Leordan Enrique Cruz Gómez, Conrado Galindo Sariol, José Manuel Rodríguez Castelló, Cristian Ernesto Acosta Guevara and Roberto Alvarez Avila.
The deceased men were identified as: Pavel Alling Peña, Michael Ortega Casanova, Ledián Padrón Guevara and Hector Duani Cruz Correa, according to the Cuban government.
Gimenez said getting answers starts with talking to the survivors.
“The ambassador in Cuba has asked to see the six survivors — apparently they’ve been given medical treatment — to talk to them. I don’t think he’s been given access to them yet so far,” he said.
When asked whether he’s worried the Cuban government will use the survivors of the shooting as a bargaining chip, Gimenez replied, “It would be a very big mistake for them to think that somehow they’re doing this to get a bargaining chip. They’re dealing with a different people now, OK? It’s not the same old, same old. Everybody in Miami has seen this before, has seen this movie before. We’re not going to fall for that.”
Local Cuban Americans said they are also hesitant to believe the Cuban government’s version of events, and they want the U.S. to take action.
“It’s time to move forward and get Cuba free,” said Guillama.
Cubans at Cafe Versailles, who said they fled communism for life in South Florida, echoed Gimenez’s sentiments.
“We’re only listening to one side at the moment. We have to remember where the information’s coming from. Don’t trust the Cuban government,” said Garcia. “I left January 1st, 1959, when I was 5 years old, and I’ve learned not to trust. I trust government only when I can question it; you can’t question a dictatorship.”
“If they were there trying to do something against the Cuban government, I applaud it,” said another customer. “Whatever they were trying to do to facilitate the freedom of the Cuban people, I absolutely applaud it.”
Meanwhile, Cuban residents on the island had a different view about the American vessel encroaching on Cuban waters.
“It was a violation of the sovereignty of the Cuban people. I suppose things will get more tense; we’ll see what happens,” Rosa Larrondo, a resident in Havana, said in Spanish.
“What they’re doing is testing our strength to see how far they can go if no one stands up to them. But the fire we gave them was good. If they come, we’ll shoot at them. If they shoot at us, we’ll eat bullets,” Roberto Henry Figueredo, another resident in Havana, said in Spanish. “We will open fire if there are problems.”
A musician performing on the streets of Havana wondered why the individuals on the boat would risk their lives.
“Those people are paid to do it and think, say, ‘Well, let’s go to Cuba,’ and they come, even risking their lives because, imagine, they even confiscated their weapons. No, man, that doesn’t bring down a nation,” Efrain Scotland said in Spanish.
Gimenez and other members of Congress have called for a full investigation into the incident.
On Wednesday, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the U.S. Coast Guard would begin investigating what occurred near Cuba.
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