The Japan Times - Missing Cuba-bound aid boats located, crew reported safe

The Mexican Navy announced a search and rescue mission Thursday after losing communication with the vessels, which left from Isla Mujeres in southeast Mexico last week with nine people aboard.

The Navy said Saturday that one of its aircraft spotted the sailboats -- Tiger Moth and Friend Ship -- 80 nautical miles northwest of Havana.

The Navy added on social media platform X that it is in communication via radio with the sailboats and a ship is on its way to the area "to provide support."

The sailboats are part of an international convoy that has brought 50 tonnes of medical supplies, food, solar panels and other goods to support Cuba as a US fuel blockade has deepened the communist-ruled island's energy and economic crisis.

"We are relieved to confirm that the two sailboats have been located by the Mexican Navy, the crews are safe, and the vessels are continuing their journey to Havana," a spokesperson for Our America Convoy told AFP.

"The convoy remains on track to complete its mission -- delivering urgently needed humanitarian aid to the Cuban people," the spokesperson said, thanking Mexican and Cuban authorities for their "support, coordination, and professionalism."

Neither the Mexican Navy nor the convoy spokesperson said why the two boats lost contact or when they might arrive in Cuba.

The boats had previously been expected to arrive in Cuba between Tuesday and Wednesday.

Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel had voiced concern about their disappearance on Friday and said his country was doing everything to find them.

The first shipments from the convoy arrived by plane from Europe and the United States last week.

A fishing boat that was converted into an aid vessel, which had also left Mexico last week, arrived in Cuba on Tuesday, a few days later than planned due to unfavorable weather, currents and battery issues.

It had been escorted by a Mexican Navy ship part of the way.

- Trump: 'Cuba is next' -

After the Mexican Navy reported Thursday that the two sailboats were missing, the convoy's spokesperson had expressed confidence in the "experienced" crew's ability to reach Havana safely.

Naval authorities did not specify the identities or nationalities of the boats' crew members, but said they were maintaining communication with rescue agencies in Poland, France, Cuba and the United States.

The US Coast Guard sparked confusion Friday when it said it had received a report that the two vessels had "safely transited to Cuba," only to say later that the search was ongoing and it was not involved in it.

US President Donald Trump imposed a de facto oil blockade on Cuba in January after US forces seized Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, whose government had been Cuba's principal source of fuel.

Trump has also threatened tariffs on countries that ship oil to Cuba.

He renewed his threats on Havana on Friday, even as the US-Israeli war against Iran entered its second month.

"I built this great military. I said, 'You'll never have to use it,' but sometimes you have to use it," Trump said at the Saudi-backed FII Priority investment forum in Miami.

"And Cuba is next, by the way. But pretend I didn't say that."

S.Fujimoto--JT