A man was recently captured by neighbors in the Modelo neighborhood of Camagüey after attempting to rob a house at noon. He was caught in the act by the homeowner, an elderly man who uses a cane, and managed to hold him until the neighbors arrived to tie him up.
The incident was documented and shared on social media by content creator Ariadna Borges, who described the scene with indignation.
"This man broke into a house in broad daylight, precisely at noon, to steal, where he was caught by the homeowner, who is an elderly person and even uses a cane," he commented.
According to Borges' account, the elderly man managed to hold the thief tightly and began to shout to alert the neighbors, who responded to the call and tied him up until the police arrived.
The author of the video did not hide her outrage at the audacity of the criminal. "These kinds of people are willing to end someone's life just to acquire any valuable object they can sell," she criticized.
And he added: "They no longer keep track, whether it's night or day. They don't care about anything anymore."
The comments on the video reflect citizens' fatigue, but also a deep distrust in the judicial system.
Tomas J. Betancourt predicted that the detainee would be free in two days, "protected by the sector chief," while Chikita Morales pointed out that "now it goes from six months to a year in prison, at most, that's why they keep doing it. Here, as long as you don’t steal from the state, everything is fine."
Likewise, Niuris Ramírez Mustelier warned that "they impose a fine and out they go to continue stealing."
Not all the comments were limited to institutional criticism. Willin Salgado Urquiza considered it an "excellent idea to publish these events that have such an impact. Let justice be served and this man be tried as he should."
The perception of impunity is the common denominator in every citizen's arrest. As Alberto Peralta summarized in the comments of the video, "now ask how much the court will give, and you will be amazed."
The case in Camagüey adds to a series of citizen arrests happening across the island. On Thursday, residents of Vedado caught a man stealing wheels from containers in the middle of the street in Havana.
In April, residents of the La Ceiba neighborhood in Playa detained a suspected habitual thief on a tricycle until the police arrived.
Similarly, residents of Santiago de Cuba captured an alleged member of the Matotones gang from Canasí, after more than 20 complaints went unanswered by the police, while neighbors in Cienfuegos caught a thief in the early morning in the La Gloria neighborhood.
The pattern responds to an unprecedented crime crisis. The Cuban Observatory for Citizen Auditing recorded 2,833 verified crimes in Cuba during 2025, an increase of 115% compared to 2024 and 337% compared to 2023.
Thefts were the predominant crime with 1,536 cases, an increase of 479% since 2023.
Two structural factors are fueling the phenomenon. On one hand, the economic crisis exacerbated by the rise in crime (GDP contracted by five percent in 2025, accumulating a decline of 15% since 2020), and the weakening of the PNR, which is believed to have lost approximately 20% of its personnel due to low wages.
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