Cuba returns American missile mistakenly shipped to Havana

The Cuban government announced Saturday that it had returned a dummy U.S. Hellfire missile, which was shipped to Havana by mistake from Europe in 2014.

The Hellfire, a laser-guided, air-to-surface missile, arrived in Havana in July 2014 on a flight from Paris due to a mistake or mishandling in the country of origin, according to a declaration by Cuba's Foreign Ministry.

"It was worrying for Cuban authorities to see an American-made missile arrive in the country, without having been declared on the cargo manifest of the plane transporting it," it read.

As the U.S. government made an official explanation to Havana and requested the missile's return, Cuba decided to initiate talks to return it, the declaration said.

U.S. defense experts travelled to Havana and brought the missile home on Saturday.

The Wall Street Journal, which was first to report the lost missile, reported that the missile was meant to be in Europe for a training exercise, but ended up in Cuba due to an unknown error. Endi