Cuban authorities arrested four Miami-based Cuban exiles who are suspected of planning attacks on military installations with the goal of promoting anti-government violence on the communist-run island, the Associated Press reported.
In a statement released Tuesday, the four suspects were labeled as terrorist and were linked to Luis Posada Carriles, 86, a Cuban exile and former CIA operative living in Miami who for many years sought to overthrow former President Fidel Castro, according to the AP.
The four suspects were identified as Jose Ortega Amador, Obdulio Rodriguez Gonzalez, Raibel Pacheco Santos and Felix Monzon Alvarez, the AP reported. The arrests were made on April 26 and could antagonize already poor U.S.-Cuban relations.
Cuba said the men were working for three others in Miami who all had close ties to Posada Carriles, a polarizing figure seen as a terrorist by Cuba and a hero to some anti-Castro Cubans in Miami, according to the AP.
Posada Carriles is wanted in Cuba and Venezuela over the bombing of a Cubana Airlines jet in 1976 that killed 73 people, the AP reported. He is also suspected of involvement in 1997 hotel bombings aimed at destabilizing Cuba and scaring away tourists where one Italian tourist was killed.
Cuba has intensified its criticism of the United States for alleged efforts to destabilize Cuba by the U.S., according to the AP. Cuba has also railed against the State Department for again naming Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism in an annual report on April 30.
Cuba said it would contact U.S. officials about the investigation and reported the four suspects admitted to planning the attacks, the AP reported. Three of the men had been traveling about the island since the middle of 2013 to plan its execution, according to the interior ministry statement published in official media.
Cuba said it hoped to "avoid acts by terrorist organizations or elements located in that country that would put in danger the people and safety of both countries" by reaching out to U.S. authorities, according to the AP.