Four men with criminal backgrounds were arrested early Friday morning while dismantling and stealing the protective railings from the elevated bridge on 114th Street and the Havana–Pinar del Río Highway, in the Havana municipality of Marianao, according to the National Revolutionary Police (PNR) through their Facebook profile «Héroes de Azul en Cuba».
The operation was carried out at 1:00 a.m. by joint forces of the Marianao National Revolutionary Police (PNR) and the Patrol Brigade of the General Directorate of the PNR (DGPNR), who caught the individuals in the act of robbery, as reported by the official media outlet Tribuna de La Habana.
Of the detainees, two are from Santiago de Cuba, one from Guantánamo, and one from Havana, which reveals the organized nature of the attempt. Furthermore, those involved had criminal and police records for offenses such as: burglary, cattle theft, illegal economic activity, and possession of a sharp weapon, detailed the PNR.
In addition to the four arrested individuals, the PNR seized a state-registered bus owned by a worker transportation company that was used as a vehicle for the criminal operation, along with the tools used to remove the metal barriers.
The detail of the state bus did not go unnoticed on social media. One user pointed it out with irony: "It's inconceivable that these cases happen [...]. Where is the transportation control? There’s none to provide service, but there is to accompany wrongdoing."
The reaction on Facebook was extensive and revealing of the state of public infrastructure across the island. "Here in Santa Clara, the vandalism is such that there is not a single bridge with railings," wrote one user. Others pointed out similar thefts in various parts of Havana: lamps from the José Martí Airport highway, tensioners from poles in El Calvario, stones from the Fraternity Park, and railings from the airport bridge...
"Havana is running out of fences," summarized another commentator. The phrase that best captured the general sentiment was one from an internet user who wrote bluntly: "People are even stealing the trash."
The incident is not an isolated case. At the end of October, several young people were documented hammering the beams of the floating dock at Alameda de Paula to sell them as scrap. Days earlier, authorities in Jovellanos, Matanzas, arrested a man accused of stealing metal angles from 110 kV high-voltage towers.
In August, two individuals attempted to take eight aluminum tubes from the Viaduct in Matanzas, and another section of railings disappeared from the General Lacret Morlot bridge over the Yumurí River, leaving pedestrians and elderly individuals vulnerable.
The figures confirm the magnitude of the phenomenon. The report "Public Insecurity in Cuba. January–June 2026," from the Cuban Citizen Audit Observatory, recorded 592 robbery reports during that period—60.1% of all documented crimes—with an average of 3.27 cases per day. The thefts against state property increased by 12.9% compared to the same period last year.
The economic crisis that Cuba has been experiencing for years, exacerbated by the collapse of the energy system and widespread shortages, is forcing many citizens to steal metals and materials from public infrastructure to resell them in the informal market.
The four detainees from the Marianao bridge remain under investigation as authorities determine the extent of their responsibilities.
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