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The historian and doctor of sciences Julio César González Pagés reported on Facebook that residents of the Havana neighborhood of El Vedado go out early in the morning to "hunt" thieves due to the prevailing impunity in the streets, in a post that portrays the collapse of public safety in one of the most iconic neighborhoods of Havana.
The complaint comes a day after González Pagés himself suffered an attempted robbery at the hands of two minors while returning from shopping, an incident that prompted him to warn: "Older adults are now the target of thefts and assaults."
"I sleep with one eye open like dogs every night. The Vedado neighborhood is the closest thing to the Wild West at dawn with neighbors shouting as they hunt for thieves," wrote the academic.
The professor describes a new form of crime that has spread through the neighborhood: the theft of gasoline stored in private parking lots, a highly valuable commodity in the context of the Cuban energy crisis, where a liter of fuel costs between 4,000 and 5,000 pesos on the informal market.
"The trend now is the theft of the little gasoline that some keep in their parking lots," he noted.
González also recounted a specific incident that occurred the day before his publication: neighbors captured one of two thieves at the intersection of 27th and 8th Streets in Vedado.
The criminal had smeared grease on his body to make his capture more difficult, and he could only be restrained when a police patrol arrived.
From the patrol car, the thief threatened to return to "hit harder," which prompted a neighbor to declare her intention to report him for threats.
The academic describes a disturbing situation: in just one week, more than 30 home burglaries were reported in the area bounded by Zapata and 23, and between Paseo and 12, including six in his own block alone.
"Given the impunity, the thieves come during the day to buildings with an elderly population and make threats," he warned.
In light of this situation, the neighbors plan to extend the hours of community surveillance to the daytime.
The pattern of neighborhood self-organization in El Vedado is recurring. This past Thursday, neighbors from the Rampa Popular Council captured a man who assaulted a young woman to steal her electric scooter at J and 21, and handed him over to the National Revolutionary Police.
In May, neighbors from the same neighborhood caught a thief who stole a phone from an elderly woman and who was currently on a prison pass, and also apprehended another man who was stealing wheels from garbage containers on Jovellar Street.
González also pointed out that he removed a photograph of a machete from his post because "the guardians of the faith have already mobilized not to catch thieves but to silence the whistleblowers," referring to the regime's pressure to stifle citizen complaints.
The Cuban Observatory of Citizen Auditing recorded 2,833 verified crimes in 2025, a 115% increase compared to 2024, with thefts being the most common offense: 1,536 cases.
"The abrupt ending of the school year and the precariousness in which we live will continue to feed the ranks of young thieves," concluded the scholar, who also announced his intention to emigrate to Morocco next year.
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