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The Provincial Prosecutor's Office of Pinar del Río confirmed on Friday that it has several investigations underway for the crime of sabotage, which range from the mass theft of state fuel and the theft of electrical components to the unusual case of a man who threw stones at a public office due to the lack of electricity.
All cases are processed under Article 125 of Law 151 of 2022 (Penal Code) and Opinion 475 from the Government Council of the People's Supreme Tribunal, agreed upon in May 2025, which unified judicial practice to classify as sabotage, and not as common theft, any appropriation or damage to critical infrastructures, noted the official newspaper Guerrillero.
One of the most significant incidents involves the theft of 4,000 liters of oil from the state reserve at the Agropecuary Supplies Company, located on the road to San Juan and Martínez, where the perpetrators tampered with the seal and broke the lock on the tank.
At the Capó power plant (Briones Montoto), an employee of the generator units took advantage of his night shift to extract 300 liters of diesel, which he distributed into 20-liter plastic tanks and handed over to three accomplices over the fence. The four of them are currently in provisional detention.
Another case involves the theft of 40 liters of oil from the backup generator of the Herradura Telephone Center, owned by the state and sole Telecommunications Company of Cuba S.A (Etecsa), which were sold for 80,000 pesos. Both the seller and the buyer are in custody.
In San Juan y Martínez, a suspect stole the grounding rod from an electrical transformer on Timbo Hill and sold it for 5,000 pesos. The rod serves to stabilize the system's voltage and prevent low voltages. The buyer is also facing charges.
At the Prefabricated Company of Siete Matas, a citizen climbed over the iron door of the carpentry shop and stole the cables from the installation system meant for building the foundations for panels for a solar park. The buyer and the seller are in provisional custody.
There is also an ongoing trial in court against a worker from the La Barbarita solar park who stole the screws that secure the panels to the mount.
The most striking case due to its nature is that of a man who, enraged by the blackouts, showed up at the offices of Correo de Cuba in Alameda and began throwing stones at the front of the building. The regime is also prosecuting him for sabotage, the source noted.
The Opinion 475 states that "the commissioner who executes the acts described intentionally (direct intent) is responsible for this crime, or one who performs it knowing that it may produce this result (conditional intent)."
The penalties range from seven to 15 years of imprisonment in basic cases. Article 126 of the Penal Code increases the sanction to between 10 and 30 years, life imprisonment, or death when severe consequences occur.
In Trinidad, in the province of Sancti Spíritus, six fuel thefts from state entities are under investigation.
In Santiago de Cuba, a man died from electrocution while attempting to steal insulating oil from transformers, and a hospital worker was sentenced to 12 years for stealing over 5,700 liters of diesel and contaminating generators that left patients on mechanical ventilation without electricity.
The backdrop of this wave of thefts is the worst energy crisis Cuba has faced in decades. The price of diesel in the informal market has reached between 3,500 and 8,000 pesos per liter, making the diversion of state fuel an extremely lucrative business.
The increased penalties for electrical sabotage has not stopped the crimes, as between January 2025 and the first quarter of 2026, 100% of those judged for these offenses received sentences of more than 10 years in prison.
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