Cuban authorities provided new details about the case of a young man and his uncle sentenced by the provincial court in Holguín to eight and ten years in prison for stealing dielectric oil from an electrical substation in the locality of El Zarzal, Urbano Noris municipality.
The local newspaper Ahora reported the "exemplary" trial held last week and informed about the modus operandi of both individuals.
The robbery occurred in an almost unpopulated area near a military unit. Luis Manuel, who was 19 years old at the time, was the primary perpetrator: he breached the perimeter fence of the substation, positioned himself under the transformer, removed the plug, and began to extract the oil. His uncle, Jesús Yusnel, aged 33, acted as an accomplice. The transportation was carried out by bicycle and cart.
The technicians from the Electric Company of Holguín detected the theft upon noticing oil stains on the floor and the liquid level being below the required amount.
"Apart from the impacts of the deficit, we were unable to restore the service when it was supposed to be done. As soon as we became aware of what had happened, we notified the Electrical Dispatch to keep the circuit open, which is why it was out of service for more than a day," stated the group leader of the substation.
The affected substation serves the Zarzal 1 and 2 circuits, which encompass more than 4,000 customers. The blackout lasted for over 24 hours. The swift intervention of the technicians—who replenished the oil level the following day—prevented a possible explosion of the transformer, according to specialists from the provincial electric company.
The specialists explained that the removal of the fluid "not only deprives the equipment of its cooling capacity but also leaves it in a state of extreme vulnerability, and if not detected in time, it can lead to an internal short circuit and damage the transformer." The dielectric oil is, moreover, an imported product and costly.
The robbery occurred repeatedly between September and October 2024. The crime was classified as ongoing sabotage under Article 125-1 A) of the Penal Code, which establishes penalties ranging from seven to 15 years. Luis Manuel received an eight-year sentence, with mitigating factors due to his age and his cooperation in reconstructing the events; Jesús Yusnel was sentenced to 10 years.
Two other individuals were prosecuted for receiving stolen goods. A 44-year-old man named Yordan purchased eight 20-liter containers for 4,500 pesos, believing they contained oil for his car; he was sentenced to 10 months in prison. Another individual, 39-year-old Adrián, a driver for a Zil 131 truck from the construction company Domus, bought 40 liters for a trip to Levisa, Mayarí, hired by a small business; he received a sentence of one year and six months of correctional labor with confinement.
Neither of them alerted the authorities about the origin of the product upon seeing police activity at the substation and noticing a different smoke emanating from their vehicles.
Holguín experienced 28 thefts of dielectric oil from transformers from January to August of this year, with Urbano Noris being one of the most affected municipalities. Eduardo Felipe Gutiérrez, chief specialist in security and protection at the Electric Company of the province, described the phenomenon as "a kind of epidemic spreading throughout the country, with apparent impunity, given the slow progression of judicial processes."
The consequences of these robberies extend beyond power outages: in Urbano Noris, a looting that occurred around April of this year paralyzed the water treatment plant that pumps water from the Cauto River, leaving the municipality without supply for months.
The problem extends throughout the country. At the end of July, the Minister of Energy and Mines, Vicente de la O Levy, acknowledged before the National Assembly that the theft of dielectric oil occurs daily. "The amount of oil that has been stolen from us is almost similar to what we are producing in the same period that we are being robbed," he said.
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