A Cuban identified as Adri Rivera shared a video on TikTok recorded by her security cameras, in which two men with covered faces can be seen lurking on the roof of her home in Cuba at five in the morning.
In the recording captured at 5:01 AM, published on May 29, one of the intruders can be seen wearing a white top and dark pants, carrying a headlamp while moving through the space alongside another individual.
On the rooftop, a solar panel is visible with a white metal support structure, one of the most coveted items by thieves in Cuba given the severe energy crisis the country is experiencing.
The home alarm goes off as the two men walk across the rooftop, a detail that is clearly audible in the video.
"This is how Cuba is. This was at my house at five in the morning," the author wrote while sharing the recording, a phrase that encapsulates the outrage of thousands of Cubans who resonated with the situation.
The video became a testament to the insecurity that Cubans face in their own homes, with hundreds of comments from people sharing similar experiences.
The theft of solar panels has surged across the island in recent months, impacting both private homes and state infrastructure.
On May 1, a solar panel from ETECSA was stolen in Santiago de Cuba, leaving more than 560 users of landline and Nauta Hogar services without connection. Additionally, on May 30, four panels were stolen from a cabinet in the Reparto Flores neighborhood of the same city, leaving a telecommunications node without backup.
In Holguín, thieves stole 32 solar panels from a pumping station after beating and tying up the guard, while in Guanabacoa, Havana, a shift supervisor was arrested for stealing over 40 meters of cables from a photovoltaic park, leaving 24 panels out of service.
The lack of public lighting caused by frequent blackouts makes nighttime thefts easier, and Cubans are increasingly turning to security cameras, alarms, and social media to document and report these incidents amid the widespread perception of police ineffectiveness.
The Cuban Observatory of Citizen Audit documented 1,319 crimes between January and June 2025, with theft being the most common offense: 721 cases, averaging more than seven crimes per day, with spikes in March and April.
In response to the escalation, the regime reacted in May 2025 with Opinion 475 from the People's Supreme Tribunal, which categorizes the theft of solar panels as sabotage and sets penalties of between seven and 30 years in prison, life imprisonment, or even death penalty in cases deemed serious, although thefts from private homes continue unabated.
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