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

A family from the municipality of El Cotorro, in the southeastern tip of Havana, reported on Facebook the theft of two children's bicycles and sought help from the community to get them back.

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 adds to a series of bicycle thefts involving minors reported in 2026. In April, a 13-year-old boy was assaulted with a knife to his throat in Cárdenas, Matanzas, in an attempt 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 bike, and a young man from Vedado even offered 20,000 Cuban pesos as a reward for the recovery of his stolen bicycle. This past Tuesday, 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 fuel shortages, which has increased its value in the informal market and made it a frequent target for thieves.

The municipality of El Cotorro, with a population between 74,000 and 83,000, is not immune to the spiral of insecurity affecting all of Havana. The Cuban Observatory of Citizen Audit (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 impacted, with 398 crimes recorded that year. The growing insecurity in Havana has even led the Ministry of the Interior itself 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.