Church suffers theft of exterior lights in broad daylight in Havana

Father Lester Rafael Zayas Díaz reported the theft that occurred at the Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish, located on Línea Street in Vedado, where a man stole some lights from the entrance in broad daylight.

"What terrible situation must a person be in to feel compelled at three in the afternoon to jump over two walls and climb several meters to steal some cold light tubes, risking being caught and who knows if willing to do anything to obtain what they seek? What great need, how much hunger, and how much anguish must drive someone to expose everything for some cold light tubes, only to end up not being able to take them all because most of them broke?" questioned the parish priest who shared photos of the incident.

He also added that the incident occurred "at three in the afternoon in front of some children and catechists who saw him descend and flee with astonished eyes."

He also said that the man “did not seem to be well in the head and his appearance was like someone who hasn't bathed for days. How much sadness resides in our national reality!” he concluded.

At the end of 2022, Fray Zayas Díaz himself reported an act of vandalism against the door of his office.

"Sometimes I think that you are just an ordinary thief, one of those that are common these days. But seeing you so limited and so poor softens my heart. You have broken the door four times at different moments and taken nothing. I've come to think that it would be good for you to make an appointment with me, and next time I'll help you myself, and together we can break the door and I'll share the loot with you," said the parish priest in a Facebook post.

In 2023, the priest once again reported the entry of a person into the Parish, where they stole lamps and light bulbs.

“Once again we are visited by the 'thieving brother.' This time out of necessity for lamps and bulbs. He is a thief who has keys and enters and exits when he wants. On this occasion, he did it twice: first to take the lamps and then to break the padlock that he forgot to break earlier, to make it clear to us that he did not enter with keys but by breaking,” wrote the priest in an extensive post reporting what happened.

Zayas is one of the 15 Catholic priests who signed a petition for non-repression in 2021, prior to the Civic March for Change organized by the Archipiélago platform for November 15, and he has been one of the figures in the Cuban church monitored by State Security.