The death of Edisvey Rolando Pérez Rodríguez, a 32-year-old lineman from the Electric Company of Sancti Spíritus, shook the El Roble neighborhood when the worker suffered a fatal electric shock while his crew was repairing a faulty transformer on 16th Street in the municipality of Guanabacoa, Havana.
The brigade had been dispatched from Sancti Spíritus to address a malfunction that had left more than 15 households without electricity for over 15 days.
The Electric Union (UNE) confirmed the passing on its social media and expressed condolences to the family of the worker.
The initial version circulated by residents, led by a viral post from Blanca Elena Franchi Díaz, indicated that the electricity supply was restored while workers were still handling the installation.
"How is it possible for the supply to be restored while there are workers handling an electrical installation that is still being repaired? Where were the safety protocols?" questioned Franchi Díaz in his post.
However, several commentators with technical knowledge of the sector contradicted that version on social media.
A witness identified as Frank Díaz claimed that the transformer was disconnected at the time of the accident and that the electrocution was caused by a different reason: "It turns out that a house was stealing electricity, and according to the inspectors [...] in that house, some type of power-generating plant was activated, and when it turned on, the electricity returned through the cable where it was being stolen, and that's when the tragedy occurred."
Gendry Jiménez, who identified himself as a colleague of the deceased, supported that explanation and pointed directly to the illegal connection as the cause of the accident: "All safety measures were in place regarding this [...] it was because of a customer with a double shot that our lineman and colleague came into contact with electricity and lost his life."
The so-called "double hook"—illegally connecting to a neighboring circuit during a power outage—is considered a serious crime in Cuba and has been linked to multiple tragedies in the electrical sector.
The Cuban prosecutor's office reported 460 cases related to crimes against the National Electric Power System between May 2025 and the first half of 2026.
Other commentators with technical experience, such as Alejandro Gutiérrez and former lineman Reidiel López, pointed out that there may have also been a failure in workplace protection measures, specifically the lack of grounding in the affected line, which would have prevented current from entering through external sources.
Dozens of people expressed their shock at the event on social media and said that the neighborhood where the young man lived was in mourning.
The tragedy is set against a pattern of deaths among Cuban linemen that has intensified with the energy crisis.
In June of this year, another electrical worker passed away in Cárdenas, Matanzas; in September 2025, the lineman Cleivi Pujada Castro died in Bauta, Artemisa; and that same month, Osmani Hernández Madroza lost both arms after an electric shock in San Miguel del Padrón.
Guanabacoa has been one of the municipalities hardest hit by prolonged blackouts in 2026, with residents taking to the streets to protest in the dark.
The residents of 16th Street had been enduring the heat, the loss of food and medication, and the challenges faced by elderly individuals and minors with special needs for over two weeks before the crew arrived to fix the outage.
"The workers who go out to the streets to fix breakdowns are also human beings and deserve to return home safe and sound," wrote Franchi Díaz, summarizing the outrage of a community that is now mourning a man who went to solve their problem and did not come back.
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