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A public complaint on Facebook warns of a wave of electric switch thefts in residential buildings in Havana, leaving dozens of families often caught between the lack of service and its reconnection, posing serious risks.
The activist Lara Crofs, who raised the alarm, described what happened in the building where a friend lives: "During the blackout, thieves entered and took all the breakers from the apartments. The police never showed up. The Electric Union, as the only solution, installed direct electricity because 'they don’t have parts to replace'."
"Thus, without protection or respect, they left dozens of families exposed to the danger of electrical accidents. This is the height of decadence, a state that completely abandons its people to their fate, while citizens become prey to other citizens," wrote Crofs.
The complaint triggered an avalanche of comments from Cubans in various provinces who confirm that the phenomenon —part of a general increase in crime— is national and systematic. From Centro Habana, Cienfuegos, Santa Clara, Camagüey, and Holguín, among other places, the testimonies repeat with variations that reveal the extent of the problem.
"In my building, six were taken; all of this is fueled by those disgusting blackouts, and when you try to install a gate, it costs an arm and a leg," wrote a netizen. In a neighborhood of Camagüey, residents moved the circuit breakers inside their apartments for protection, but the thieves responded by stealing the air conditioning cables: "At least they caught two of the wrongdoers," recounted another user.
In San Miguel del Padrón, the audacity of the criminals reached a new level: "They say they come in a truck, tie the gate with a chain, and pull it with the truck moving," described a forum user referring to the theft of the metal railings from the Social Security office in the municipality. Meanwhile, in Holguín, the thefts are not limited to the breakers: "They also take the cables that go from the houses to the pole," warned another resident.
Impunity is sustained, in part, by the collapse of law enforcement itself. The 20% of the members of the National Revolutionary Police have left the force in the past year due to low wages and lack of resources, according to reports from 2025 and 2026. The blackouts of 2026, with deficits of over 2000 megawatts and outages lasting up to 30 hours, also create the perfect conditions for this type of crime: total darkness and absence of police.
The phenomenon is part of a documented spiral of violence. The Cuban Observatory of Citizen Audit recorded 2,833 verified crimes in Cuba in 2025, a 115% increase compared to 2024, with thefts leading the statistics with 1,536 cases, a 479% rise since 2023. Cuban leaders seem oblivious to these figures.
Among the hundreds of comments generated by Lara Crofs' post was one from neighbors reporting that the Electric Union has been over two years without replacing stolen breakers in some buildings, forcing the residents themselves to bear the costs and management. "The electric company never replaces the breakers; we had to take care of the matter ourselves," lamented a netizen.
Two other opinions summarized the general mood: "A dysfunctional and anarchic country," said one person; another added, "Cuba is a drifting boat."
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