A Cuban mother from Alacranes, Matanzas, tearfully reported the theft of an EcoFlow energy station and its solar panel, equipment she had received as a gift to alleviate blackouts and spare her children from hardship.
Yamislay López shared on Facebook that the robbery occurred on September 1, precisely on the day the 2026-2027 school year began, after she briefly left her home to buy backpacks for her children.
"Today at twelve forty-five in the afternoon, I stepped out for a moment to buy the children's backpacks for school, since classes have started and I didn't even have that to buy the little ones' backpacks for school, because in Cuba, we are going through an incredible hardship, a tremendous situation of life," she recounted, visibly affected.
During his absence, the thief is said to have entered through the back of the house after breaking a window and took the power station and the solar panel.
The Cuban explained that the EcoFlow had been a gift from one of her followers specifically to help her family during the prolonged power outages.
"They gave it to me, they put it there and told me: 'Here, take this so you don't struggle for your kids,' and now some degenerate comes and steals it from me, damn it. That's not right, that's not right," she lamented.
The police arrived at the residence and took fingerprints, although Yamislay was skeptical about the possibility of recovering the stolen items.
"The police came, took fingerprints, but I know that won't solve any problem, because that always happens here in Alacrán," he stated.
After the theft, the woman even searched the woods behind her house in hopes of finding any trace of the equipment, as she reported on Facebook.
"I spent quite some time searching the woods behind my house to see if I could find anything; it feels so painful, but well, better times will come. I'm not going to give up," he wrote later.
Beyond the economic loss, Yamislay described the fear that the incident caused in her children, who are afraid that someone will break into their home again.
"No one can imagine how tight my chest feels today, the sadness of seeing my little ones sweating and crying out of fear that they might enter the house; they barely slept," she said.
In another message, he addressed the person in charge directly —whom he suspects is aware of or follows his posts— and requested the return of the EcoFlow before the situation escalated.
"I'm calm, I'm giving you the chance to come and set up the Ecoflow on my porch in the backyard [...] a strong mother like me won't make it easy for you," she warned.
The case occurs amid reports of EcoFlow equipment thefts in Matanzas and other provinces. The energy crisis has turned these portable stations into particularly valuable assets for families trying to cope with blackouts that can last for hours or even days.
Their prices range from about 369 to over 2,600 dollars, depending on the model, amounts that are beyond the reach of many Cuban households without help from family members or individuals living abroad.
The Cuban Observatory for Citizen Auditing recorded 1,536 verified thefts in 2025, an increase of 479% compared to 2023, while the Ministry of the Interior itself acknowledged a 25% rise in property crimes that year.
The report was made just a day after the U.S. Embassy in Havana warned about the "widespread increase in crime in Cuba."
"There is no longer a human being; the Cuban has lost everything: morality, dignity, respect, everything," asserted Yamislay in the video, which has already surpassed 158,000 views on Facebook.
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