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The People's Tribunal of Artemisa held a trial with a corrective character regarding Case No. 106 against a 36-year-old citizen, originally from the Isle of Youth and residing in Havana, accused of stealing 70 liters of dielectric oil from a transformer in the Cayajabos Popular Council, municipality of Artemisa, reported this Friday by the official newspaper El artemiseño.
The incident occurred in February in the 1570 circuit, part of an electrical substation converting 33 kV to 13 kV with a capacity of 6.3 MVA, and it could have left around 4,000 people without electricity, in addition to over 20 workplaces, schools, bakeries, popular camping sites, and sources of potable water supply.
According to the source, a neighbor who noticed unusual activity at the substation alerted the National Revolutionary Police, whose officers found three 20-liter tanks hidden in a sugarcane field, another partially filled, and oil stains on the suspect's overalls.
Just 24 hours after the incident, on February 13, the accused participated in the reconstruction of the event in front of four witnesses and explained how he used a stone to remove a cap and a tube found at the scene to extract the oil.
The provincial prosecutor Rafael Ángel Soler López classified the crime as sabotage under Article 125 of Law No. 151 of the Cuban Penal Code, which establishes penalties of seven to 15 years of imprisonment, arguing that the accused acted "knowing that this result would occur" to "destroy, alter, damage, or undermine the system."
The court proposed a sanction of 12 years of deprivation of liberty, along with accessory measures of deprivation of rights and prohibition from leaving the national territory.
The parties have ten days to file a cassation appeal before the ruling becomes final.
Ismaray Hinojosa Pérez, president of the Provincial People's Tribunal of Artemisa, presided over the trial with invited neighbors, citizens with police interest, workers from the electric company, and employees from nearby workplaces.
"This practice helps raise public awareness to protect these sites," he noted.
The technical director of the Electric Company of Artemisa, Edelfín Falcón Guerra, confirmed that the case is not isolated, considering that substations in Guanajay, Caimito, San Antonio de los Baños, Alquízar, and Güira de Melena have experienced similar impacts.
Of the 83 substations with 100 transformers in the province, only 36 have security services, highlighting the vulnerability of the system.
The stolen dielectric oil is resold on the black market as fuel or lubricant for tractors, and each transformer is valued at between four and five million dollars in the international market, according to figures from the Electric Company itself.
This case falls within a national wave of robberies that has claimed lives. One man died and another suffered severe burns in Songo La Maya, Santiago de Cuba, on April 11, when a transformer exploded while they were attempting to steal dielectric oil.
In Las Tunas, the province has already recorded 11 thefts of dielectric oil and transformer parts this year, leaving thousands of residents without electricity for days.
Three Cubans were also charged with electrical sabotage in Jatibonico, Sancti Spíritus, after being caught attempting to steal oil from a transformer.
Between January 2025 and the first quarter of 2026, 100% of those tried for sabotaging the electrical system received sentences exceeding 10 years in prison, in accordance with Ruling 475 of the Supreme People's Court, which reaffirmed these acts as sabotage with penalties that can reach life imprisonment in cases of severe consequences.
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