The 25-year-old from Tunero, William Manuel Sánchez Jorge, recounted in an interview with Tania Costa on CiberCuba how two hooded assailants attacked him with a knife measuring between 25 and 30 centimeters, left him unconscious, and stole his motorcycle at the intersection of Zapata and G streets in Vedado. The incident occurred shortly after eleven o'clock on Saturday night in an area where, according to his testimony, at least four other robberies have been reported.
Sánchez Jorge claims he was riding his motorcycle with a friend when one of the attackers jumped from behind a small hill near a tree, stood in the middle of the street with a knife in hand, and began to stab him.
"A boy came out with a knife measuring 25 to 30 centimeters, he stopped in the middle; he paused in the street and came for me, he lunged at my chest with a stab, but thank God I’m alive and he hit my arm," narrated the victim.
"He shot to kill, he is a murderer, I can't explain what he was going to do, because he was going to kill me, he wasn't going to scare or threaten me, he was going to kill me," William added, who at the time of the interview said he was "more or less alright, in pain," but happy to be alive.
The first blow, aimed at the chest, struck the arm. Failing to bring him down, the attacker delivered a cut to his left knee. "That's when I fell, and my friend fell too, and at that point, I lost a bit of consciousness," he described.
There were two attackers. While one was tearing a chain from the woman accompanying William Sánchez, the second assailant—who was waiting in an elevated position—came down and got on the stolen motorcycle to escape. The young woman, with her hands raised, pleaded for them to take everything as long as they left them alive.
"My friend was begging with her hands raised for them to take everything, but not to harm us, to let us live, and they took the motorcycle and took a chain from her," William recounted.
The assailants were completely masked with hoods that covered even their sleeves, leaving no indication of their skin color. William Sánchez suspects that a motorcyclist riding ahead of them may have signaled the attackers, although he could not confirm it.
The attack occurred at 11:20 PM on Saturday. William Sánchez received three stab wounds: one to the left shoulder, one to the knee, and another to the leg. At the hospital, the doctors could only give him two of the four stitches he needed for the arm wound, to allow for drainage in case of potential infections.
"I have two stitches in the (wound) on my arm, because there were four, but they had to leave it at two so that if there are infections, it can drain, since there weren't many conditions either," he explained.
Her friend ended up with a facial injury, a swollen hand, and an injured ankle from the fall.
William Sánchez emphasized that his case was not an isolated incident that night: "Before us, two or three others had been robbed; in total, there were five assaults in that same area that night, and that can't be normal; it has to be something beyond the limit."
El Vedado has experienced a series of violent attacks throughout 2026. In June, neighbors detained a man after he attacked a young woman to steal her electric motorcycle at J and 21. However, it is not the only dangerous neighborhood in Havana. In July, two 19-year-olds were killed in a violent attack in the Hanói Park of Alamar.
The data reflects a documented trend on a national scale. According to information from the Cuban Citizen Audit Observatory reported by Diario Las Américas, in 2025 there were 2,833 crimes recorded in Cuba, representing a 115% increase compared to 2024, with theft being the most common offense at 1,536 reported cases.
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