Cubans Capture U.S.-Registered Boat, Crew

Cuban authorities Saturday announced the capture of a powerful U.S-registered boat and its crew of four Florida-based Cubans two miles north of Havana, the second incident of its kind since Thursday.

The announcement, carried on Cuban radio, said the 200-horsepower Scorpion-type launch was captured at 3:50 a.m. Friday.

The four Cuban-exile Florida residents taken into custody were said to be unharmed. They admitted they violated Cuban territorial waters, the announcement said.

They reportedly explained that they came to pick up Cubans who were waiting for them on the coast and take them back to the United States. The four men were under arrest while their case was being investigated. They were identified as David Barrio Martinez, Jose Javier Gutierrez Mojena, Jesus Antonio Rodriguez Llanes and Aurelio Martin Gonzalez.

The Coast Guard in Miami was notified of the capture “in timely fashion,” the announcement said.

The capture of the boat followed a similar incident that took place the previous day and was announced Friday.

In that incident, three men were killed and one wounded when Cuban frontier guards fired at them.

The three dead men were Cubans who intended to leave for the United States on a U.S.-registered motorboat that came to pick them up.

The wounded man, an American citizen identified as Ricky Robert Hoddinutt of Key West, Fla., reportedly told Cuban authorities that he would have received “a lot of money for every Cuban he took to the United States.”