A man ended up jumping into the sea from the Malecón in Havana this Sunday while trying to escape a crowd that was chasing and beating him after he was accused of snatching a cellphone from a 10-year-old boy.
The incident occurred near the Deauville Hotel in Centro Habana and was witnessed by a source from CubaNet, which documented what happened with images and videos.
According to the report, the man took the cell phone from the minor, who began to shout for help. Several people in the vicinity reacted and chased after the suspect until they caught up with him.
The pursuit then escalated into a collective attack. The man was beaten, and some people threw stones at him.
The released images show the suspect shirtless, covered in blood, and surrounded by numerous people.
Faced with the situation, he jumped from the seawall into the sea to escape the crowd.
Dozens of people remained watching him from the wall as the authorities arrived.
Agents of the Revolutionary National Police (PNR) and rescuers from the Fire Department later arrived at the scene. The man was pulled from the water and taken to a police vehicle.
"Shameless!" and "Thief!" shouted some people as the agents took him away, according to the recordings.
The episode took place in an area of the Malecón frequented during the summer by children and teenagers entering the sea. In recent weeks, power outages and high temperatures have led many residents of Havana to swim in its waters.
The case once again highlights a scene that has replayed in Cuba: citizens chasing and apprehending individuals accused of theft before the police arrive, episodes that sometimes end in beatings.
The theft of cell phones has generated numerous reports in areas such as El Vedado and Centro Habana, amid growing public concern about crime.
The Cuban Citizen Audit Observatory (OCAC) recorded 2,833 reports of criminal incidents during 2025, of which 1,536 were related to thefts, according to their records.
In June 2026, the Cuban Observatory of Conflicts (OCC) documented another 44 reports related to thefts, assaults, looting, burglaries, and scams, and has warned about cases of groups assaulting pedestrians to take their phones, bicycles, and mopeds.
These are records compiled from publicly known cases rather than exhaustive official statistics on crime in the island.
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