CUBA ( Four People Murdered While Planning to Leave Cuba with Foreign Assistance )

HAVANA – Four people were murdered in Cuba in a case presumably related to the group’s alleged plan to leave the country “with help from abroad,” Cuban authorities reported Wednesday, adding that they have arrested six people linked to the case.

The Interior Ministry said in an official statement that on Tuesday afternoon “the bodies of four people who had been violently killed were found on the Niña Bonita farm in the town of Playa Baracoa ... in Artemisa province.”

“According to the preliminary results of the investigation being conducted by a multidisciplinary team, the crime is linked to an alleged plan to illegally leave the country with help from abroad,” the statement said.

So far, Cuban authorities have arrested six people they say were “involved” in the case.

The Interior Ministry said that “reports will continue to be issued” on the case but it provided no further details at the time on the incident in Playa Baracoa, a town located on the island’s northern coast about 20 kilometers (12.5 miles) west of Havana.

In Cuba, where all media are controlled by the state, releasing information regarding violent deeds such as murder, robbery or assaults is not a normal occurrence.

In March, in an unusual situation, Cuban media reported a triple murder – evidently “a crime of passion” – in Havana, but in that case authorities released the information after the crime had already been cleared up and the murderer had confessed