Bicycles recently bought for two children stolen in El Cotorro: family seeks help to recover them

A Cuban mother from the municipality of El Cotorro, in the southeastern tip of Havana, reported on Facebook the theft of her two children's bicycles and asked the community for help in recovering them.

The post included a photograph of the minors riding their bicycles, with their faces covered by a red heart emoji to protect their identity.

This pattern—reporting in Facebook groups—has become the most commonly used resource by Cubans to try to recover stolen property.

The case is part of a series of bicycle thefts involving minors recorded in 2026. In April, a 13-year-old boy was attacked with a knife to his neck in Cárdenas, Matanzas, to steal his bicycle. In May, a mother in Cienfuegos reported the theft of her two-year-old son's bicycle and noted that the police did not take action.

In July, a Cuban teacher reported the theft of her son's electric bike, and a young man from Vedado offered 20,000 Cuban pesos as a reward to recover his stolen bicycle. This past Monday, another family from Havana reported the theft of their electric tricycle, which was their main source of income.

The bicycle has become a basic necessity in Cuba due to the collapse of public transportation and the shortage of fuel, which has increased its value in the informal market and made it a frequent target for thieves.

The municipality of El Cotorro, with between 74,000 and 83,000 inhabitants, is not exempt from the spiral of insecurity affecting all of Havana. The Cuban Citizen Audit Observatory (OCAC) documented 2,833 verified crimes in Cuba during 2025, which is a 115% increase compared to 2024 and a 337% increase compared to 2023, with thefts being the most common crime: 1,536 cases.

The capital was one of the provinces most affected, with 398 reported crimes that year. The rising insecurity in Havana has even led the Ministry of the Interior to acknowledge, in February of this year, a 25% increase in property crimes, which it attributed to the "complex economic situation," without mentioning the regime's responsibility in that crisis.