00:00So this morning, we were made aware by Cuban authorities of an incident off the coast of Cuba.
00:06We immediately began to look into it.
00:09As it stands now, the Department of Homeland Security, the Coast Guard, others are involved.
00:14The majority of the information we still possess is what Cuban authorities are providing, both the public and the U
00:20.S. government.
00:21We have our embassy on the ground in Havana working this as we speak,
00:24asking for access to the people that were on those vessels, that they were American citizens or permanent residents.
00:30According to the Cuban regime, that the boat was registered in Florida.
00:35We're tracking that down.
00:37We will know shortly, and we will know quickly, many more facts about this incident than we know right now.
00:43The majority of the facts being publicly reported are those by the information provided by the Cubans.
00:49We will verify that independently.
00:51And as we gather more information, then we'll be prepared to respond accordingly.
00:57I'm not going to speculate.
00:58I'm not going to opine on what I don't yet know.
01:02But we're going to find out exactly what happened here, and then we'll respond accordingly.
01:07Okay?
01:08Any questions?
01:09Have you been in touch with anyone in Cuba?
01:12Well, the authorities in Cuba, the Border Guard, has constant contact with the Coast Guard,
01:18so they alerted them this morning.
01:20I was made aware of it at that time.
01:22Oftentimes in these incidents and things like this, the initial reports are incomplete.
01:27And then as the day has progressed, I think early this morning, certainly by 9 a.m. or 10 a
01:31.m. this time,
01:32maybe a little later our time here, I reached out, and we began to look at it independently.
01:37We have various different elements of the U.S. government that are trying to verify elements of the story based
01:43on what's been provided to us now.
01:45I know that the Coast Guard has responded to the area, to the vicinity.
01:49I'll need to get more fidelity and understanding from them once I get on the airplane about what exactly they're
01:54looking for.
01:54I don't know who has possession of the vessel, which is the first thing we'd want to have.
01:58We obviously want to have access to these people, if they are American citizens or U.S. residents.
02:03Have you spoken to any people about this?
02:06No.
02:07We haven't spoken directly about this now?
02:09No, I'm not going to comment about any conversations we've had on this topic.
02:12Suffice it to say, what's important to be out there and everyone needs to know is that we're going to
02:17have our own information on this,
02:18and we're going to figure out exactly what happened.
02:20And there are a number of things that could have happened here.
02:23But I'm not even going to speculate as to what it could have been.
02:27It's a wide range of things.
02:29Suffice it to say, it is highly unusual to see shootouts in open sea like that.
02:34It's not something that happens every day.
02:35It's something, frankly, that hasn't happened with Cuba in a very long time.
02:41But we're going to find out.
02:42We're not going to base our conclusions on what they've told us.
02:46And I'm very, very confident that we will know the full story of what happened here,
02:50and we will know it soon.
02:51And then, you know, we'll respond appropriately based on what that information tells us.
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