An 18-year-old young man lost his life on September 24 after receiving an electric shock while pruning trees near a high-voltage power line in the municipality of Cabaiguán, Sancti Spíritus.
According to independent journalist Magdiel Jorge Castro, who attributed the information to the Electric Company of Sancti Spíritus, the accident occurred around 9:00 a.m. when the victim was cutting a branch close to the 110 kV line of the Tuinucú 220 kV-Cabaiguán 110 kV, which led to the electrical contact that caused his death.
According to the source, the young man, identified by the initials K. R., was not an employee of the Electric Company, but rather a member of a pruning brigade hired by third parties and linked to the CCS Ramón Balboa, a credit and agricultural services cooperative located in the town of Guayos, in the municipality of Cabaiguán.
Castro also claims to have had access to documentation regarding the case, in which the incident is classified as "fatal accident of a third party hired for pruning work." If this is the case, it highlights that the risks associated with work near electrical infrastructures also affect external personnel hired to carry out these tasks.
So far, no details have been made public regarding the safety protocols implemented during the operation or any potential responsibilities.
The death of K. R. would be at least the third linked to the Cuban electrical system so far in September.
At the beginning of the month, the lineman Edisvey Rolando Pérez Rodríguez, 32 years old, who belonged to the Electric Company of Sancti Spíritus, died after being electrocuted in the El Roble neighborhood of Guanabacoa, Havana, while he was repairing a transformer; witnesses indicated that a possible cause was an illegal connection that sent current back to the cable he was working on.
On September 12, Mario Vives Mesa, a specialized lineman from Palmira, Cienfuegos, died in Juraguá while working on the construction of the new transmission line for the Solar Park; in the same accident, his colleague Ridier Molina León was hospitalized in intensive care.
These deaths occur within the context of an unprecedented energy crisis: the Cuban electric system is operating in September with deficits exceeding 2,000 megawatts and blackouts that have simultaneously affected up to 70% of the country.
Cabaiguán, the municipality where the fatal accident of K. R. reportedly occurred, has been identified by the Electric Company of Sancti Spíritus as the hardest hit by the crisis in the province, with power outages lasting up to 50 consecutive hours recorded in 2026.
The working conditions in the sector are extremely precarious: deteriorated protective equipment, poorly maintained vehicles, and exhausting workdays, worsened by the exit of about 15,000 people from the electrical sector in 2021 and 2022 due to low salaries.
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