#us-sanctions-and-blockade

#us-sanctions-and-blockade

Members of a convoy that delivered humanitarian aid to Cuba were detained and interrogated by Customs and Border Protection upon returning to the United States on a charter flight from Havana.

As the Florida-registered vessel came within a nautical mile of Cuba's northern coast, the country's border guard troops approached and asked for identification, the Interior Ministry said in a statement. The speedboat crew opened fire on the Cuban troops, injuring the vessel's commander, the ministry said. Cuban forces returned fire. Four people on the speedboat were killed and six wounded, the ministry said.

What began peacefully, after an exchange with the authorities in the area, degenerated into vandalism against the headquarters of the municipal committee of the Communist Party, the state-run newspaper Invasor said of the incident. Unverified videos of the incident show protesters breaking into the office and throwing stones at a burning building. Shouts of liberty could be heard in one of the videos, according to the news agency Reuters.

The United States demanded on Wednesday that Cuba undertake very dramatic changes very soon, while increasing pressure on an island facing its worst economic crisis in decades. At the same time, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is holding conversations with Raul Guillermo Rodriguez Castro, grandson of Raul Castro, the regime's strongman, according to the U.S. outlet Axios, which claims these talks are taking place outside the Cuban government's official channels in Havana.

AP Photo/Evan Vucci The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday that President Donald Trump and his administration are actively working to topple the Cuban government by the end of the year, according to sources familiar with the planning. The Journal's exclusive report said that the Trump administration is searching for Cuban government insiders who can help cut a deal to push out the Communist regime, suggesting the regime change would not be achieved through military force.