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A 15-year-old teenager was captured by residents of the Sueño neighborhood in Santiago de Cuba after snatching two chains from a man who was walking with his family in front of Parque Maceo, according to a report on Facebook by independent journalist Yosmany Mayeta Labrada.
The images of the incident show the young man - with dyed blonde hair and a pink shirt with the inscription GUCCI - surrounded by a large group of neighbors and two motorcyclists who assisted in his detention while they awaited the arrival of the police.
Another photo documents the reddish marks on the victim's neck, who was wearing a gold chain and a black T-shirt. A woman's hand points out the injuries to provide visual evidence of the assault suffered during the pursuit.
The crowd gathered on the street around a police patrol that took the thief away.
The phrase that the minor uttered upon being detained encapsulates the perception of impunity that residents are reporting: "I'm a minor, nothing is going to happen to me."
A relative of the victim recounted that when filing the complaint at the police station, the agents' response was that "in a few hours he will be out and it will go back to the same."
The same source indicated that the assaulted man had suffered two heart attacks less than a year ago, so the fright and injuries sustained during the chase could have ended in tragedy.
The Cuban Penal Code of 2022 establishes that full criminal responsibility begins at the age of 16. Those under this age are placed under a guardianship and educational system that separates them from ordinary criminal law, which in practice creates the exact perception that the adolescent expressed without reservation.
The regime does not publish official crime statistics, but the alarming increase in crime in Cuba during 2025 was documented by the Cuban Citizen Audit Observatory (OCAC), which recorded 2,833 verified crimes that year, a 115% increase compared to 2024 and a 337% rise compared to 2023.
Theft was the dominant type with 1,536 cases, and Santiago de Cuba was the fourth most affected province with 323 offenses.
So far in 2026, the trend has not stopped.
In May, a 23-year-old young man was murdered in Santiago de Cuba during a robbery. In April, neighbors captured a thief in that city after threatening those present.
The pattern repeats: in the face of authorities' inaction, it is the citizens themselves who apprehend the criminals.
The complainant also revealed that a few months ago, criminals broke into her mother's house and stole a motor, and she concluded her account with a phrase that encapsulates the feelings of many people in Santiago: "This city is drowning in violence."
Mayeta Labrada, who systematically documents these events on her social media page, was straightforward in her call: "As long as impunity remains the norm, the streets will continue to be the territory of those who know perfectly well that nothing will happen to them."
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