An individual snatched a mobile phone from a person sitting on the porch of their home in the city of Guantánamo, and was captured shortly after thanks to the joint intervention of neighbors and patrol forces, as reported this Wednesday by the Facebook page “Guantánamo y su Verdad”.
According to the publication, the alleged suspect was arrested on Crombet Street between Beneficencia and Carlos Manuel. The recovered phone—a Motorola with a quad camera—will be returned to its owner. The images accompanying the note show a young man without a shirt, with visible scrapes on his knees and legs and a pixelated face, apparently in a police facility, alongside a nighttime scene with a police vehicle.
On the same day, the same page reported another operation in Guantánamo: two individuals were arrested at the intersection of Aguilera and Martí following an anonymous tip. "During the arrest of both alleged suspects, two knives and a balaclava were seized," the publication noted, adding that one of the detainees allegedly attempted to dispose of the balaclava during the search.
Both cases occur in a context of increasing insecurity throughout the island. Last June, three gangs were dismantled in Guantánamo linked to nine violent robberies; their members acted wearing masks, with knives, and targeting victims who were carrying cell phones.
What the publication does not mention is the nature of the page that disseminates it. "Guantánamo y su Verdad" is part of a network of profiles aligned with the MININT and the Revolutionary National Police that operates in all Cuban provinces and publishes police content that state media generally do not cover.
The surge in mobile phone thefts has become an escalating criminal activity throughout Cuba. In August, neighbors in El Vedado detained a man accused of snatching a cellphone from another resident at the entrance of his home. In September, a doctor in Santiago de Cuba chased down and caught a young man who had stolen his phone. Recently, a thief broke in through a window at the Faustino Pérez Hospital in Matanzas, stealing a cellphone and a rechargeable fan from a patient's room.
The Cuban Observatory of Citizen Auditing documented 2,833 verified crimes in 2025, a 115% increase compared to 2024, of which 1,536 were thefts. In the first half of 2026, 90 crimes resulted in death, marking a 42.9% rise compared to the same period last year. The MININT itself acknowledged in February 2026 a 25% increase in property crimes, which it attributed to the "complex economic situation," a euphemism that the regime uses to avoid pointing out its own policies' responsibility for the deterioration of living conditions.
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