A U.S. Hellfire missile that was meant to sent to a military exercise in Europe was wrongly shipped from the continent to Cuba in 2014, before U.S.-Cuba relations were normalized in 2015, according to a report.
It’s a strange case that’s confounded many observers.
“Did someone take a bribe to send it somewhere else? Was it an intelligence operation, or just a series of mistakes? That’s what we’ve been trying to figure out,” one U.S. official told the Wall Street Journal.
The missile was sent from Orlando, Fla., in early 2014 to be used in a NATO military exercise. Through a series of flight confusions and possible mishaps, it was last confirmed scene in Rota, Spain, before appearing in Havana, Cuba.
By June 2014, the U.S. realized the missile was missing.
“Mistakes are a part of any human endeavor. Mistakes are made,” the official said.
In meantime, the U.S. wants the missile back, though it is unclear to what extent Havana is being engaged by the U.S. on this issue.
