Cuban authorities reported that between 2025 and the first half of this year, over 460 criminal investigations were initiated for offenses against the National Electric System (SEN), including sabotage, damage, theft, burglary, and receiving stolen goods.
The figure was presented during a recent broadcast of the official television program Hacemos Cuba, which featured specialists from the Ministry of the Interior (Minint), the Attorney General's Office, and the People's Supreme Court, and was reported this Saturday by the official newspaper Granma.
Among the identified behaviors, the theft of dielectric oil from transformers stands out. According to the authorities, this crime has been detected in all provinces of the country and in 97 municipalities, with an increase in reported cases compared to the previous year.
Lieutenant Colonel Carlos Martínez González, Deputy Chief of the Department of the Instruction Body of State Security at Minint, explained that the stolen oil may end up in the informal market, where it is used mixed with fuel.
As part of the controls to detect this practice, the Minint conducted an investigation in an unidentified province. Of the 105 vehicles examined, 21 tested positive for the presence of dielectric oil mixed with fuel, and 18 were seized.
"The main recipients in this case continue to be private sector transporters," Martínez stated, although he clarified that this identification does not imply a generalization about all workers in that sector.
The consequences of these events can extend to entire communities. In San José de Marcos, part of the Marcos Popular Council in Jagüey Grande, Matanzas, the theft of approximately 1,000 liters of dielectric oil from a transformer left the community without electricity for over 30 days.
Three individuals have been identified in that case, and they are currently in provisional custody while the criminal proceedings continue.
The phenomenon has also claimed lives. In June, a man was electrocuted and another was arrested and charged with sabotage after trying to steal dielectric oil from a bank of electrical transformers in the town of El Cobre, in the municipality of Santiago de Cuba.
The legal framework governing these cases is the Opinion 475 of the Government Council of the People's Supreme Court, issued in May 2025, which unified the legal classification of these acts as sabotage under articles 125 and 126 of the Cuban Penal Code.
The basic modality of the crime includes penalties ranging from seven to 15 years of incarceration. In aggravated circumstances—such as serious injuries, deaths, or the use of explosives—the sanctions can escalate to 30 years, life imprisonment, or the death penalty.
The magistrate Iliana Gómez Guerra, president of the Chamber of Crimes Against State Security of the People's Supreme Tribunal, specified that in the course of 2026 "most sentences range from nine to 20 years of imprisonment."
87% of the defendants presented to the Prosecutor's Office are in provisional detention as a precautionary measure, according to data from the institution itself.
The government has also reported the theft of solar panels and high-tension tower angles, which broadens the scope of damage to the country's electrical infrastructure.
The Minister of Energy and Mines, Vicente de la O Levy, acknowledged in July that the volume of stolen oil is "almost similar" to that which is produced during the same period, and that some settlements have remained without electricity for up to 105 days due to damage to transformers that are difficult to replace.
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