Bicycle stolen from a courier in Havana: "The silent complicity hurts me"

Crime shows no signs of slowing down in Cuba: a delivery person was the victim of bicycle theft this Monday while making a delivery in the El Canal neighborhood of the Cerro municipality in Havana.

Sándor Capote Virág made the incident public this Tuesday in the Facebook group "Mensajeros Habana," where he criticized the complicity of neighbors and others who were in the area, as they remained silent after the theft, shielding the thief and allowing them to get away with it.

The stolen bicycle is from the brand Good Children, white in color with blue logos, “featuring Shimano grips, all-terrain tires, a wide prostatic saddle, and black grips with copper-colored edges.”

Capote explained that the theft occurred while he was delivering a custom cake to a house in the capital neighborhood, even though he had secured his bicycle with a lock at the entrance of a corridor, "for less than a minute." When he returned, "it was already gone," he lamented.

The messenger considered the presence of at least five people at the scene during the robbery, including the mechanic from a workshop located in front of the house, as “the most suspicious and painful” aspect of the case. “None of them saw anything”, he emphasized. “As if the bicycle had vanished into thin air.”

"I'm not staying silent. Not about the bike, which took me months of honest work to obtain. I'm hurt by what it represents: the silent complicity, the indifference, the fear or cover-up in areas where thieves feel protected by everyone's silence," Capote warned with sorrow.

He justified the reason for his public complaint by emphasizing the need for “people to know what is happening there,” as a similar incident “could happen tomorrow to another worker, to an elderly person, to a mother. And no one does or says anything,” he warned.

Capote issued a warning to those who choose not to report a robbery or any other crime: “To those who think that staying silent means being ‘smart’, remember that when silence protects the thief, the entire neighborhood becomes his victim.”

The man requested that if anyone has real information or wants to help him recover the bicycle, they should contact him via private message on Facebook.

In Cuba, there has been a rise in criminal activity in recent years, as the economic crisis in the country worsens.

It is significant the increase in thefts and assaults, even in broad daylight, in any city or town across the country. Criminals are perfecting their modus operandi to achieve their goals.

A few days ago, a self-employed transporter from the municipality of Marianao was deceived by two clients who rented his tricycle to supposedly pick up some goods, and they ended up stealing it in just a few minutes.

In the Playa municipality, a thief entered a house during the day and stole several items without anyone being able to stop him. The robbery was recorded by the security cameras of the residence.

At the end of June, an unusual and tense scene unfolded in the municipality of San Miguel del Padrón, also in Havana, when neighbors decided to take matters into their own hands and capture a woman known in the neighborhood for repeated thefts.

Frequently Asked Questions about Theft and Crime in Havana, Cuba