Caribbean<\/a> leaders, in St Kitts and Nevis.<\/p>\nRa\u00fal Guillermo Rodr\u00edguez Castro, 41, does not have an official role in the Cuban government, but remains close to his grandfather, who holds huge sway in the country\u2019s power structure.<\/p>\n
The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, who was attending the Caricom session, said the US government had nothing to do with the incident and told reporters: \u201cWe\u2019re still gathering facts.\u201d<\/p>\n
But what facts there are remain sketchy.<\/p>\n
The assault happened among a network of keys east of the tourist beach of Varadero off the island\u2019s northern coast, according to Cuba\u2019s ministry of the interior.<\/p>\n
The boat, a small centre-console speedboat, appears to have come from the Florida Keys and was allegedly carrying arms.<\/p>\n
One of the men who died, Michel Ortega Casanova, had spoken of wanting to liberate the island, an associate told AFP.<\/p>\n
\u201cHis goal was to go and fight against a criminal and murderous narco-tyrannical [government], to see if that would spark the people to rise up,\u201d said Wilfredo Beyra, head of the Cuban Republican party in Tampa.<\/p>\n
There is a long history of exiles trying to spark uprisings against Cuba\u2019s communist government. Cuban authorities said the occupants fired on the border guards when they were intercepted, injuring the Cuban commander and one guard.<\/p>\n
The ministry of the interior said it had already picked up one further member of the group who had flown to the island to meet the boat, and who had \u201cconfessed\u201d.<\/p>\n
The boat appears to have been a 24ft Pro-Line, usually used to fish in coastal waters, and may have been stolen. To experts, it seems an unlikely craft to attempt a seaborne landing on Cuba, more than 90 miles away from Florida, given that the 10 occupants would have been a tight fit and the boat did not have a particularly powerful engine.<\/p>\n
The Cuban authorities say the survivors were all Cuban residents in the US who now stand accused of intending to \u201ccarry out an infiltration for the purposes of terrorism\u201d. The ministry also said they all had criminal records in Cuba, and were carrying assault rifles, handguns, molotov cocktails and other military-style gear.<\/p>\n
A US official said at least two individuals were US citizens, including one of the dead, and a third person was on a K-1 visa, which allows spouses of citizens to settle in the US.<\/p>\n
Several of the injured were apparently being held at a hospital in Santa Clara, about 150 miles east of Havana, which was under heavy guard by interior ministry troops, Reuters reported.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is a lot of Sturm und Drang<\/em> [over this] in Miami,\u201d said a leading figure in the exile community.<\/p>\nThere are also concerns among some exiles that US efforts at regime change will be damaged by such a freelance attack. \u201cThere are some corners of the Cuban exile community declaring two days of mourning,\u201d said Michael Bustamante, the chair of Cuban and Cuban-American studies at the University of Miami. \u201cBut I\u2019ve also seen a lot of commentary sarcastically asking: \u2018What the hell were these guys thinking?\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is a feeling that at the moment the US is clamping down and putting the Cuban government in the corner. This could actually give the Cuban government a lifeline.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bustamante said \u201ca maritime raid is how the Cuban revolution got started\u201d. The Granma, the boat that carried Fidel and Ra\u00fal Castro as well as Che Guevara and 79 others from Mexico in 1956, now sits in open display at Havana\u2019s Museum of the Revolution.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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