The People's Municipal Court of the Avilan municipality of Baraguá held a trial on September 24 that was deemed "exemplary" for the theft of dielectric oil from a transformer bank of an agricultural cooperative, an incident that deprived 12 households of electrical service.
The case involves the disappearance of 236 liters of dielectric oil from the transformer bank of the Agricultural Production Cooperative (CPA) Mártires del 9 de abril, reported the provincial broadcaster Radio Surco on Friday.
According to what was established during the process, the entity's custodian abandoned their duties, which allowed outsiders to appropriate the product.
The official source described the situation as negligence with "direct and severe consequences for the community and local production."
In addition to cutting off electricity to the affected families, the theft seriously halted the productive activities of the cooperative, which relies on dielectric oil for the operation of its electrical system.
The offense judged was classified as "failure to fulfill the duty to safeguard assets in economic entities," a provision that penalizes the negligence of a worker who, by neglecting their responsibilities, allows for the damage or theft of resources from an organization.
This qualification differs from sabotage of the National Electroenergetic System, which carries penalties ranging from seven to 30 years under Opinion 475/2025 of the People's Supreme Court.
The information about the trial did not specify the sanction imposed by the Municipal Popular Court of Baraguá against the person responsible for the custody of the dielectric oil, so details about the penalty or measure imposed after the process are not known.
The municipality of Baraguá already bore a tragic precedent linked to this phenomenon. In August, a man was electrocuted while climbing a transformer bank in the Gutiérrez settlement, reportedly to extract dielectric oil.
Ciego de Ávila is one of the provinces most affected by this type of crime. The stolen product is resold on the black market as a substitute for fuel for tractors and agricultural machinery, at prices ranging from 500 to over 1,000 Cuban pesos per liter, which drives a constant demand amid fuel shortages.
The wave of exemplary trials has intensified in September. Recently, the Provincial Court of Pinar del Río sentenced Yoelvys Álvarez Gavilán to 12 years in prison for stealing screws from a solar park.
Days earlier, in Holguín, a nephew and his uncle received sentences of eight and ten years, respectively, for stealing dielectric oil from a substation that left over 4,000 customers without electricity for more than 24 hours.
Despite the punitive escalation, the Minister of Energy and Mines, Vicente de la O Levy, acknowledged before the National Assembly in July that theft occurs "daily" and that "the amount of oil that has been stolen from us is nearly equal to what we are producing during the same period of theft."
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