The electrical substation of the Gratitud batey, located three kilometers from Jovellanos in Matanzas, has been looted six times in the last three months of 2025: on each occasion, thieves extracted the dielectric oil from its transformers, leaving thousands of people without electricity or water, according to a report by the official Juventud Rebelde published on Thursday.
The installation supplies power to nine communities. During the last three months of 2025, around 4,000 residents of Cuba Libre, the Experimental Sugar Cane Station, and Julio Reyes Cairo spent several weeks without electricity, unable to even pump drinking water.
As of 2026, the situation has not improved: the substation accumulated 70 consecutive days out of service, and when they managed to reactivate it, it lasted barely three days before experiencing another serious breakdown.
"The population is very upset about the vandalism occurring at the transformers," reported Liosvany Hernández Tanquero, the mayor of the municipality of Jovellanos, who also criticized those who purchase the stolen oil. "Their families ultimately suffer as well, because it is very complicated to distribute water with trucks."
For Maira Leiva Quiñones, delegate of constituency 49, the damage goes beyond discomfort: "Stealing oil from a transformer at this time is stealing life, as it undermines the peace and security of the area."
Dielectric oil is a mineral fluid that insulates and cools transformers. Without it, the equipment overheats and is damaged as soon as the power returns. In Cuba, thieves resell it on the black market as a substitute for fuel for tractors and agricultural machinery due to the severe diesel shortage.
Alejandro Rodríguez Azpeitía, director of the provincial electric company, explained the chain of damages: "They steal the oil during the blackout. When the power comes back on, no one knows that the transformer is dry, which is why it overheats and burns out. Then, replacing it is not so easy: any of that equipment in the substations costs over 25,000 dollars."
In Matanzas, more than 55,950 liters of dielectric oil have been lost between distribution transformers and substations. Out of the 98 substations connected in the province, 43 have been affected — several on more than one occasion — and 12 remain offline due to this issue. The most affected municipalities are Jagüey Grande, with 34 incidents; Jovellanos, with 29; Colón, with 24; and Cárdenas, with 20.
The methods of thieves have become more sophisticated: although authorities welded the valves of the transformers in the substation in Mexico, also in Matanzas, the criminals arrived with a drill and created a hole to extract the oil.
At the national level, the Ministry of Energy and Mines confirmed 479 cases of dielectric oil theft by the end of August, with Matanzas being the most affected province: 175 incidents in 2026, compared to 136 in 2025. The regime classifies these thefts as sabotage, with penalties ranging from seven to 30 years in prison and even the death penalty in the most severe cases, although the tightening of penalties has not deterred these crimes: on September 5, the authorities admitted to over 460 active investigations in 97 municipalities.
The Minister of Energy and Mines, Vicente de la O Levy, acknowledged before the National Assembly that theft occurs "daily" and that the amount stolen is "almost equal" to what Cuba produces in the same period, with communities that have gone up to 105 days without electricity due to damage to transformers.
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