The provincial people's courts of Pinar del Río, Sancti Spíritus, and Holguín judged and sanctioned 11 defendants for crimes against the National Electroenergetic System (SEN) between September 15 and 26, 2026, according to a report released by the Ministry of Interior (MININT) through the state-run Canal Caribe.
The offenses included the theft of dielectric oil from transformers and the stealing of screws, washers, and nuts intended for the assembly of solar panels.
According to MININT, "in most cases, those who acted had legitimate access to the facilities due to their work, such as photovoltaic park operators, warehouse staff, and media distribution managers, who exploited that position to gradually take the resources, conceal them, transfer them, and sell them."
The most impactful case was judged in Moa, Holguín, where seven individuals were accused of stealing 1,248 liters of dielectric oil from the Moa Nueva substation during two nighttime operations carried out in the early hours of March 12 to 13, 2026.
Four young people from the Punta Gorda neighborhood participated in the oil extraction, while three citizens from Sancti Spíritus, who were passing through, helped with transportation and purchased part of the product.
The transfer was carried out in a state truck; the next day, the owner of the vehicle paid 960,000 Cuban pesos to the ringleader, money that was distributed among the four actual perpetrators.
The extraction of the oil caused a short circuit in phase B of the transformer and its subsequent structural explosion, rendering it permanently out of service and cutting off the electricity supply to 6,184 homes, in addition to affecting the secondary power supply of the Moa territorial hospital.
The economic damages for the Electric Company of Moa amounted to 138,054.49 Cuban pesos.
The court imposed sentences of between 12 and 15 years of deprivation of liberty to the seven individuals involved in the Moa case, and ordered the confiscation of a vehicle, money, and other resources.
In Pinar del Río, Yoelvys Álvarez Gavilán was sentenced to 12 years in prison for stealing screws and accessories from the La Barbarita photovoltaic park in Consolación del Sur.
In Holguín, on September 15, a 19-year-old received eight years in prison for ongoing sabotage at the El Zarzal substation in the Urbano Noris municipality, while his 33-year-old uncle was sentenced to 10 years; this theft left over 4,000 customers without electricity for more than 24 hours.
These trials are part of a sustained judicial offensive by the Cuban regime. According to the authorities, between 2025 and the first half of 2026, there were opened more than 460 criminal investigations for crimes against the electrical system, with over 300 of them related to the theft of dielectric oil, reported in all 15 provinces and 97 municipalities of the country.
The regime has intensified penalties for electrical sabotage through Decree 475 of the Council of Government of the People's Supreme Court, issued in May 2025, which directed the courts to classify these actions under Article 125 of the Penal Code, with penalties ranging from seven to 30 years, life imprisonment, or even the death penalty in aggravated cases.
The Minister of Energy and Mines, Vicente de la O Levy, acknowledged before the National Assembly in July 2026 that the theft of dielectric oil occurs "daily" and that the amount stolen is "almost similar" to what Cuba produces in the same period.
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