Cuba vowed to defend itself against "terrorist and mercenary aggression" as more information emerged about the U.S.-based Cuban men accused by the government of "foiled armed infiltration."
Cuban officials said its military killed four men and captured six others who were injured after they entered Cuban waters aboard a Florida-registered boat near the island nation's northeastern coast. The Cuban government said they were armed and initiated the firefight.
The country's president, Miguel Díaz-Canel, said Thursday that “Cuba will defend itself with determination and firmness against any terrorist and mercenary aggression that seeks to affect its sovereignty and national stability.”
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Wednesday the U.S. will carry out an independent investigation before it responds, adding they are going to independently verify the information shared by the Cuban government "and reach our own conclusions.”
Family, friends and associates who spoke with NBC and Telemundo about the U.S.-based Cubans involved in the incident said the men were known to be opposed to the Cuban government.
A congressional aide told NBC News that there is no indication of any U.S. government link to any of the people on board. Two sources close to one of the detained men said that at least some of the men aboard the boat were affiliated with a paramilitary group that is opposed to Cuba's government.
Members of the Cuban Government have been in touch with the U.S. Coast Guard and the U.S. Department of State as they further investigate the incident, Carlos Fernandez de Cossio, Cuba's deputy minister of foreign affairs, said in a press conference Thursday afternoon.
"An investigation is underway to clarify the facts with the utmost rigor," De Cossio said. "The Cuban government is willing to exchange information with the United States on this matter."
Among the four people killed, the Cuban government has only identified Michel Ortega Casanova as one of the fatal victims as of Thursday afternoon.
In an interview with Telemundo's Tampa station, Ortega Casanova's brother spoke about his sibling's actions in the context of their opposition to the Cuban government.
“One way or another this battle has to end,” Misael Ortega Casanova, Michel's brother, told Telemundo 49.
"Today it was my brother's turn, and those who fell alongside him. I don't justify the method or the action," he said in Spanish during an interview in Casa Cuba de Tampa, an organization for Cuban exiles. “For those who, in one way or another, have had to give their lives, both at home and abroad, for this freedom that we all long for and that has cost us the loss of family and the suffering of separation.”
Ibrahim Bosch, president of the Partido Republicano de Cuba, an organization that opposes the Cuban regime, said Michel was a member of their group. But in a statement shared on social media Thursday morning, he said "the organization’s leadership was completely unaware of his intentions, plans, or participation in said event."
The Cuban government also identified six of the men they say were in the boat and are now detained in Cuba.
Two of them, Amijail Sánchez González and Leordan Cruz Gómez, were previously designated by the Cuban government as individuals wanted for "their involvement in the promotion, planning, organization, financing, support or commission of actions carried out in the national territory or in other countries, in connection with acts of terrorism,” according to a Cuban state media report, citing a statement from the Interior Ministry.
NBC News was not immediately able to independently verify that information.
A Cuban man in Miami said his name also appears on the list from the Cuban government as one of the men who was captured.
“They say they have me detained, and I’m here in the United States,” Roberto Azcorra Consuegra told Telemundo’s Miami station.
