Alleged expat 'terrorist' said he was 'ready to die' to free Cuba — and called exile leaders cowards
By Tim Padgett, Daniel Rivero
February 26, 2026 at 4:08 PM EST
Cuba says two of the ten Cuban expats accused of taking part in a shootout with Cuba’s coast guard on Wednesday were already on the regime's terrorist watch list — and one of them recently posted a video calling Cuban exiles cowards and "impostors" and urging them to die to free the communist island.
Cuban officials say four expats were killed and six captured after their Florida-registered speed boat was stopped off the northwest coast of Cuba and they fired on the coast guard vessel.
Cuba accuses them of infiltrating the island to commit terrorism, and claims it found weapons like Molotov cocktails on their boat.
Among those Cuba says are in custody are Amijail Sanchez and Leordan Cruz — who were already on a list of more than 60 persons wanted in Cuba for terrorism.
Meanwhile, it emerged on Thursday that the boat involved in the incident may have been stolen from a house in the Florida Keys.
According to a Monroe County Sheriff's Office report, obtained by the Miami Herald, the owner of a vessel matching the registration number released by the Cuban government reported it stolen from a property in Big Pine Key after news of the shootout broke on Wednesday. He reportedly said one of the men named as having been killed in the incident, Hector Cruz Correa, did work for him and that his truck had been left at the property where the boat was kept.
READ MORE: What to know about the boat shooting in Cuban waters that killed 4
Cuba has not provided photo or video evidence of its claims about Wednesday's incident and who it arrested, and U.S. officials have yet to confirm or deny them.
But in an Instagram video posted this month, Sanchez calls himself the leader of a group called the People’s Self-Defense and says he is "ready to die" to free Cuba from its repressive and disastrous communist rule.
“God gave me a new life to do what I have to do,” Sanchez says in the video posted Feb. 11.
But he spends the lion's share of his rambling, expletive-laden speech condemning Cuban exile leaders in the U.S. for not sharing that courage.
“Don’t tell me you want to be President of Cuba,” Sanchez tells them. “You don’t have the cojones ... to do what had to be done over the past 67 years” since the Castro regime took power.
"You are impostors."
FILE - In this June 29, 2021 file photo, a Cuban flag from a Cuban Border Patrol boat flies as the Coast Guard Sentinel-class cutter Charles Sexton arrives to deliver Cuban deportees to the authorities at Orozco Bay in Artemisa, Cuba. Cuba received 2,165 migrants repatriated by the U.S. Coast Guard at the end of the first quarter of 2023, Cuban media reported on Monday, April 3, 2023. (3761x2436, AR: 1.5439244663382594)
Sanchez, who according to his Facebook page is 47, lives in Miami and hails from Cuba's Camagüey province, also says he's grateful for being able to live in the U.S. It's unclear when he came to the U.S.
His social media accounts are full of images and videos involving armed conflict and envisioned attacks to bring down Cuba's regime.
Cuba's terror suspects list, published last July, connected Sanchez to "the arrest of a Cuban resident in the United States who brought firearms, ammunition and other equipment to the coast of Matanzas province with the purpose of carrying out terrorist acts in military units ... plans organized, financed and assisted from U.S. territory by citizens of that country."
As for Cruz, Cuba placed him on the list for what it called "acts of sabotage in the Villa Clara province, for which he was detained and criminally prosecuted as a Cuban national."
But Cuba's account of Wednesday's events, and of those it says were involved, was thrown somewhat into question when the Spain-based Cuban media outlet El Toque released an interview with a man who said he's Roberto Azcorra Consuegra — one of the six Cuban expats Cuba said it captured after the shootout.
Azcorra insisted he's in Miami and not in custody in Cuba.
The drama is playing out amid already strained U.S.-Cuba relations after the Trump administration recently closed off oil shipments to the island to pressure the communist regime.
Many Cuban exiles say they believe the regime is now on the brink of collapse — and they're hoping to see Cubans on the island rise up as a result.
(1509x275, AR: 5.487272727272727)
Cuban officials say four expats were killed and six captured after their Florida-registered speed boat was stopped off the northwest coast of Cuba and they fired on the coast guard vessel.
Cuba accuses them of infiltrating the island to commit terrorism, and claims it found weapons like Molotov cocktails on their boat.
Among those Cuba says are in custody are Amijail Sanchez and Leordan Cruz — who were already on a list of more than 60 persons wanted in Cuba for terrorism.
Meanwhile, it emerged on Thursday that the boat involved in the incident may have been stolen from a house in the Florida Keys.
According to a Monroe County Sheriff's Office report, obtained by the Miami Herald, the owner of a vessel matching the registration number released by the Cuban government reported it stolen from a property in Big Pine Key after news of the shootout broke on Wednesday. He reportedly said one of the men named as having been killed in the incident, Hector Cruz Correa, did work for him and that his truck had been left at the property where the boat was kept.
READ MORE: What to know about the boat shooting in Cuban waters that killed 4
Cuba has not provided photo or video evidence of its claims about Wednesday's incident and who it arrested, and U.S. officials have yet to confirm or deny them.
But in an Instagram video posted this month, Sanchez calls himself the leader of a group called the People’s Self-Defense and says he is "ready to die" to free Cuba from its repressive and disastrous communist rule.
“God gave me a new life to do what I have to do,” Sanchez says in the video posted Feb. 11.
But he spends the lion's share of his rambling, expletive-laden speech condemning Cuban exile leaders in the U.S. for not sharing that courage.
“Don’t tell me you want to be President of Cuba,” Sanchez tells them. “You don’t have the cojones ... to do what had to be done over the past 67 years” since the Castro regime took power.
"You are impostors."
FILE - In this June 29, 2021 file photo, a Cuban flag from a Cuban Border Patrol boat flies as the Coast Guard Sentinel-class cutter Charles Sexton arrives to deliver Cuban deportees to the authorities at Orozco Bay in Artemisa, Cuba. Cuba received 2,165 migrants repatriated by the U.S. Coast Guard at the end of the first quarter of 2023, Cuban media reported on Monday, April 3, 2023. (3761x2436, AR: 1.5439244663382594)
Sanchez, who according to his Facebook page is 47, lives in Miami and hails from Cuba's Camagüey province, also says he's grateful for being able to live in the U.S. It's unclear when he came to the U.S.
His social media accounts are full of images and videos involving armed conflict and envisioned attacks to bring down Cuba's regime.
Cuba's terror suspects list, published last July, connected Sanchez to "the arrest of a Cuban resident in the United States who brought firearms, ammunition and other equipment to the coast of Matanzas province with the purpose of carrying out terrorist acts in military units ... plans organized, financed and assisted from U.S. territory by citizens of that country."
As for Cruz, Cuba placed him on the list for what it called "acts of sabotage in the Villa Clara province, for which he was detained and criminally prosecuted as a Cuban national."
But Cuba's account of Wednesday's events, and of those it says were involved, was thrown somewhat into question when the Spain-based Cuban media outlet El Toque released an interview with a man who said he's Roberto Azcorra Consuegra — one of the six Cuban expats Cuba said it captured after the shootout.
Azcorra insisted he's in Miami and not in custody in Cuba.
The drama is playing out amid already strained U.S.-Cuba relations after the Trump administration recently closed off oil shipments to the island to pressure the communist regime.
Many Cuban exiles say they believe the regime is now on the brink of collapse — and they're hoping to see Cubans on the island rise up as a result.
(1509x275, AR: 5.487272727272727)