Six more were injured after the incident which has left tensions between the nations at a boiling point, with the US and Cuba offering very different versions of events

An American-registered speedboat opened fire first on border authorities, Cuban officials have claimed, with officers returning gunfire that killed four and injured a further six.

The speedboat was one nautical mile from the Cuban coast when it was approached by a boat of border officials, the Cuban government said on Wednesday (February 25).

The Cuban Ministry of the Interior issued a statement on the speedboat incident in the nation's territorial waters.

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"When a surface unit of the Border Guard Troops of the Ministry of the Interior, carrying five service members, approached the vessel for identification, the crew of the violating speedboat opened fire on the Cuban personnel, resulting in the injury of the commander of the Cuban vessel.

"As a consequence of the confrontation, as of the time of this report, four aggressors on the foreign vessel were killed and six were injured. The injured individuals were evacuated and received medical assistance."

The statement added that an investigation will be carried out "by the competent authorities" to clarify the facts of Wednesday's incident.

The Cuban givernment reaffirmed its right to protect its territorial waters in the same statement, especially as "in the face of current challenges".

On US soil, Republican Party Congressman Carlos Gimenez has claimed Cuban government "murdered" Americans.

He said: "The dictatorship in Cuba has just attacked a boat from Florida and murdered those on board" and addeed that "this regime must be relegated to the dustbin of history".

He also threatened Jamaica's Prime Minister Andrew Holness, in a wild reaction to the a statemet from the Caribbean leader that called for "responsible leadership and constructive dialogue" between the US and Cuba in an effort "to ease tensions and promote reform and stability"

Gimenez accused Holness of engaging in a "cover-up for the moribund dictatorship in Cuba", before adding a clear threat: "Jamaica will face the consequences!"

Marco Rubio spoke to reporters from an airport in St. Kitts and Nevis, with the US Secretary of State returning from the Caribbean after a visit to allay fears of local leaders eft unsettled by Trump's recent policies and actions, including the rendition of Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro in a US military operation last month.

Rubio said that US authorities are in the process of gathering intel to further understand the victims and what happened out in Cuban waters.

"We have various different elements of the US government that are trying to identify elements of the story that may not be provided to us now," he said.

The speedboat incident adds new tension to an already-mounting pile of bad blood between the US and Cuba in the wake of a Trump-imposed fuel blockade on Cuba. Puntitve tarrifs are now imposed on any nation that trades oil with Cuba has seen the island nation pushed to the brink of collapse.

Cuba is dependent on imported oil that it mostly purchases from Venezuela and Mexico, and without that its already years-long energy crisis has deepened even futher.

According to the United Nations Human Rights Office, the fuel blockade has resulted in food shortages, has disrupted water supplies to the nation's people, and is pushing hospitals to breaking point. Ambulances are struggling to find fuel to respond to emergencies, while the government is on the brink of collapse.

Aviation has been grounded, with the Cuban government announcing in early February it would no longer refuel foreign aircraft, triggering an immediate ripple effect for the nation's tourism sector, with regional Canadian airlines and Air Canada cancelling all flights to Cuba. Russian carriers Rossiya and Nordwind followed suit only 48 hours later.

Blackouts continue as the Carribbean nation hits record-breaking low teperatures, with its lowest ever temperature ever recorded of 0 °C on February 3. The next day, the 3.3 million people that live in Cuba's eastern provinces of Guantánamo, Santiago de Cuba, Holguín and Granma experienced a complete blackout. Havana also had difficulties with electricity suuply on the same day.

Now, with the added weight of Wednesday's boat shootings, it seems bad blood between the two nations is a boiling point.

Not only has Trump imposed tariff's on its Carribbean neiughbour, but it has naval forces patrolling the North Atlantic Ocean to halt any oil shipments from making it to Cuban shores to help ease the energy crisis. According to New York Times analysis of shipping data and satellite images, Cuban tankers have hardly left the nation in months.

The siege-tactic is the first effective blockade against Cuba by the United States since the Cuban Missile Crisis, and seems to be forcing the nation down the path of America's ultimate goal: A regime change by the end of the year. Trump has already warned Cuba to "make a deal before it's too late".

In January, Trump also shared a social media message that suggested Marco Rubio - a Cuban-American former Florida senator and the son of Cuban exiles - should become president of Cuba.

Trump shared that post with the comment: "Sounds good to me!"