• US confirms 8 May meeting in Havana • Cuba says four men were planning 'terrorist actions'

This article is more than 6 years old

This article is more than 6 years old

US diplomats confirmed on Saturday that Cuban officials have given them some information about four Florida residents who were arrested on suspicion of preparing attacks against military installations on the island.

The US Interests Section in Havana issued a statement confirming the 8 May meeting with representatives of the Cuban ministry of foreign affairs. It said: "The Cubans provided some information about the allegations which we are now reviewing."

Cuba's interior ministry said the men – identified as José Ortega Amador, Obdulio Rodríguez Gonzalez, Raibel Pacheco Santos and Félix Monzón Álvarez – were detained on 26 April for planning "terrorist actions" against military installations, masterminded from Florida.

None of the four are well-known within the exile community in South Florida, but Cuba claimed they were acting on orders from others with a history of militancy, singling out Santiago Álvarez Fernández Magriñá, Osvaldo Mitat and Manuel Alzugaray in Miami.

Santiago Alvarez and Mitat pleaded guilty in 2006 in the US to conspiracy after an informant tipped the FBI that a large cache of weapons, including machine guns and a grenade launcher, was being moved from apartments Alvarez owned.

Alvarez denied involvement in any plot and said he did not know the detained men.

