Four of the five survivors of a failed armed incursion against Cuba, which occurred on February 25 of this year, provided detailed statements to the independent media Belly of the Beast, as part of an investigation published in collaboration with Drop Site and Miami New Times, about the operation planned from Florida, United States, with the aim of taking over a police station, inciting a popular uprising, and invoking a US military intervention to overthrow the Cuban government.The individuals involved in the incursion were Cuban migrants who were residing in different locations in the US before the attack: José Manuel Rodríguez Castelló, 34 years of age, worked in bathroom remodeling in Homestead, Florida; Christian Ernesto Acosta Guevara, 24 years old, worked as a house painter in Tampa; Leordán Enrique Cruz Gómez, 38 years old, resided in Houston, Texas, after arriving on an improvised boat; and Conrado Galindo Sariol, 52 years old and a former military officer residing in Florida, and worked in the removal of satellite dishes.Ten men set out from Florida for Cuba w/ guns and a plan to spark an uprisingA firefight with Cuba’s Border Guard left five dead and five detainedRead the first public account of the failed plot from its participants, with @DropSiteNews @miaminewtimes: https://t.co/WK5W37GfgC https://t.co/zmGNrU7a4D— Belly of the Beast (@bellybeastcuba) September 23, 2026Through interviews granted to Belly of the Beast in July 2026 from prison in the Cuban capital, Havana, they revealed that recruitment began in 2025 through digital platforms like TikTok and WhatsApp.In these platforms, they interacted with accounts like La Nueva Cuba, administered by Raúl Quevedo, a Cuban national based in Florida, identified as a key figure in the digital recruitment of Cuban migrants through anti-communist content and AI-generated images of armed resistance, although Quevedo denied to journalists his direct involvement in the operation, and Movimiento Cardumen. The latter was created in May 2025 by Pavel Alling Peña, a naturalized US citizen and resident of Florida who openly promoted armed actions against the government of Cuba.Regarding Acosta Guevara’s incorporation, the young man himself revealed that Pavel Alling Peña invited him to join Movimiento Cardumen, explaining that the group dedicated itself to spreading videos, posters, and other materials in support of the “freedom of Cuba.” Subsequently, Alling informed him that there were people preparing for a “military intervention” in Cuba and asked if he was willing to join. Acosta replied that he had no problem and asked about the location, to which Alling responded: “Come to my house, and I’ll take you with me.”After those contacts, the preparatory and training phase occurred between November 2025 and January 2026. The participants met periodically on a 13-acre farm located in LaBelle, near Fort Myers. It was a property belonging to the Cuban Maritza Lugo Fernández, from the November 30 Party, an anti-communist organization.The terrain was equipped with an earthen berm designed for multidimensional shooting exercises, where recruits practiced with AR-15 semi-automatic rifles, AK-47 rifles, and pistols. As Rodríguez Castelló explained to reporters, “we self-finance: we buy our own bullets, our own rifles, our own military equipment.”The logistics of the maritime journey to the island were organized in Florida with the acquisition of two vessels: a speedboat purchased by the group and a fishing boat named El Tornado. The arsenal and logistical load included 25 firearms, 13,000 cartridges of various calibers, homemade bombs packed with shrapnel made of nuts and screws, Molotov cocktails, bulletproof vests, night vision goggles, camouflage uniforms, a reconnaissance drone, and a Starlink satellite internet terminal intended to maintain real-time communications during the landing.The journey began after sunset on February 24, when the two vessels set sail from the town of Marathon, in the Florida Keys, heading toward the shores of the Cuban province of Matanzas. However, the navigation suffered severe setbacks at sea due to a mechanical failure in the engine of the speedboat.Due to the breakdown, the group had to transfer the weapons, supplies, and all its members to the fishing boat El Tornado. The overweight and accumulated delays caused the vessel to run aground on a sandbank due to low tide near Cayo Bahía de Cádiz at dawn on February 25.Upon being detected and intercepted by the Cuban Border Guard Troops, a shootout ensued that left four intruders dead on the vessel, namely, Ledián Padrón Guevara, Pavel Alling Peña, Michel Ortega Casanova, and Héctor Duani Cruz Correa, and a fifth, Roberto Álvarez Ávila (identified as one of the group’s leaders), succumbed to his injuries on March 4. On the part of the Cuban Coast Guard, no fatalities were reported, although the captain commanding the patrol boat was hit by a bullet.Cuba Reports Record $8.08 Billion Annual Damages From US BlockadeCurrently, the five survivors (all of Cuban nationality)—the four infiltrators who gave interviews, the fifth infiltrator Amijail Sánchez González (who did not make any statements after declining the interview or not being authorized to do so), and a presumed contact on land apprehended in Cuba—remain in preventive detention after being formally charged with terrorism-related offenses.According to Edward Robert Campbell, the prosecutor in charge of the case, the charges carry penalties that can reach up to 30 years in prison or even the death penalty, although Cuba has not executed anyone since 2003.In their statements to the media, the four accused showed differing stances regarding the outcome of the mission. Acosta Guevara expressed his regret by stating that “The advice I’d give other Cubans is stop consuming so much trash [on social media]. Keep your jobs and don’t come to Cuba to do anything because it’s not going to turn out well. The Cuban people and the military are well trained to stop an intervention.”Cruz Gómez evaluated the outcome, admitting that “perhaps the idea was somewhat naive because we hadn’t prepared for every possible situation. We weren’t prepared to face the Border Guard.”In contrast, Rodríguez Castelló maintained a defiant stance: “If they told me they would send an oil tanker to Cuba in exchange for freeing José Manuel [referring to himself], I would rather rot in prison than let a single drop of oil enter this country.” Galindo Sariol, on the other hand, claimed to have been forced to board the ship after being initially hired only to record the videos of the trainings, asserting that Maritza Lugo told him: “There’s a change in plans. You’re going to Cuba.” (Telesur)Translation: Orinoco TribuneOT/SC/CD