The exiles keeping vigil over their dead: Florida Cubans left confounded after the attack on a US speedboat

"The news devastated me. It was a very sad loss, of young people who longed to see the island free, says Diasniurka Salcedo Verdecia from her home in Miami. She can't stop thinking about the families of the four people who died in the incident on Wednesday, February 25, off the coast of Villa Clara, and is worried about what the government might do to the six injured people who are now in its custody."

"The Cuban government once again took violent action against its own people—Cubans—in the ongoing political struggle it has always maintained against its exiles. Amid the tension over Washington's potential plans for Cuba, Cubans learned from the Cuban Interior Ministry about an attack on a speedboat with Florida registration FL7726SH that had approached within one nautical mile northwest of the El Pino channel in Cayo Falcones."

Cuban exiles in South Florida have begun memorializing four individuals who died when the Cuban Coast Guard sank a speedboat on February 25 off Villa Clara's coast. The victims—Pavel Alling Pena, Michael Ortega Casanova, Ledian Padron Guevara, and Hector Duani Cruz Correa—have been added to a memorial altar dedicated to victims of Castro's regime. Community members have written obituaries and epithets honoring them as patriots and heroes. The incident has devastated the exile community, with concerns about six injured survivors now in Cuban government custody. This violent action reflects ongoing political tensions between Cuba and its exile population, occurring amid discussions about potential U.S. policy changes toward Cuba.

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