A man who Cuban officials misidentified as being one of the 10 people aboard a U.S.-registered speedboat that was involved in a deadly shootout off Cuba's coast this week said he was scared to learn his name was on the initial list.
"It scares me because my dad, grandparents, aunts and uncles are there," Roberto Azcorra Consuegra said in Spanish while speaking with reporters in Miami on Thursday, according to ABC Miami affiliate WSVN.
After Cuban officials initially identified Consuegra as one of the six people detained in the incident, Cuba's deputy foreign minister on Thursday said Consuegra was "mistakenly mentioned" and was not part of the group. Four others on the speedboat died, Cuban officials said.
Consuegra told reporters that he knows several of the people allegedly involved in the incident but had no prior knowledge of it or what their intentions were, according to WSVN. He surmised that they possibly thought they could "liberate Cuba" by creating an uprising, according to WSVN.
"I have mixed emotions," Consuegra said of their alleged actions, according to WSVN. "They're friends of mine and I admire what they did."
Consuegra said he has been living in the U.S. for the past decade after claiming political asylum, according to WSVN. He said he didn't know why his name was on the Cuban officials' initial list, though he said the Cuban regime is aware of his past activism against the country's leadership, according to WSVN.
"I have a record of activism against the dictatorship from my days in Cuba as well as here in the United States," Consuegra said, according to WSVN. "I think they've confused all that history or they're hiding something, I can't be sure."
Cuba's deputy foreign minister said in a statement on Thursday that Consuegra is "known for his history of involvement in violent actions and intentions against Cuba."
The Cuban Ministry of Interior claimed those aboard the speedboat "intended to carry out an infiltration for terrorist purposes."
Consuegra pushed back against allegations that the men on the boat were terrorists.
"Those guys risked their lives to free Cuba, to support the people," he said, according to WSVN. "Unfortunately, it didn't pan out and now all this is happening. But don’t categorize them as terrorists. No one here is a terrorist. We’re all Cubans and we all want freedom for Cuba. Everyone fights in their own way."
The Cuban government said Thursday that the incident remains under investigation and they are sharing information with the U.S.
The "confrontation" occurred Wednesday morning, about one nautical mile northeast of the El Pino channel, in Cayo Falcones in the Villa Clara province on Cuba's north coast, the Cuban Ministry of Interior said.
Those on board the U.S-registered speedboat, which had been reported stolen in Florida, allegedly opened fire on Cuban border guard troops as they approached the boat in an attempt to identify it, the Cuban ministry said.
In the aftermath of the gunfight, the ministry said assault rifles, handguns, Molotov cocktails, bulletproof vests, telescopic sights and camouflage uniforms were seized from the speedboat.
At least one American citizen was killed and another injured in the incident, two U.S. State Department officials and a White House official told ABC News on Thursday.
The U.S. officials also confirmed that one of the individuals on the boat was holding a K-1 visa, which allows foreigners to enter the U.S. to marry an American citizen.
Some of the other individuals involved in the incident are believed to be lawful permanent residents of the United States, U.S. officials said, although it's not immediately clear how many.