Residents of Los Pinos Avenue, between E and 11 streets in the Jiménez neighborhood, in Santiago de Cuba, managed to thwart the theft of electrical connections that supplied electricity to several homes in the area early this morning.
The news was announced by Yaneydis Hechavarría, president of the Municipal Assembly of the People's Power of Santiago de Cuba, who highlighted the coordinated efforts of the neighbors, the delegate of district 33 —identified as Isabel— and the Electric Company.
"The intervention of the residents, along with the efforts of Isabel, the delegate of district 33, and the swift response of the Electric Company, allowed for the recovery of the cables and the restoration of electrical service in the affected homes," Hechavarría stated.
Thanks to that joint response, the cables were recovered and the electricity supply was restored in the homes that had lost service after the attempted theft.
The episode occurs in the context of community surveillance organized in Santiago de Cuba since the end of October, when local authorities launched the movement "My Neighborhood for the Homeland," which promotes night patrols to protect public facilities in response to the increase in thefts targeting electrical infrastructure.
Avenida Los Pinos is not unfamiliar with this type of crime: in June of this year, thieves stole power cables, conductors, and breakers from the ETECSA radio base of the same name, rendering it out of service. In August, a cable theft left several buildings in the Micro 7 sector of the same city without electricity for five days.
The problem overwhelms Santiago de Cuba. Just two days earlier, the National Revolutionary Police arrested a man in Songo-La Maya linked to several thefts of dielectric oil from transformers, where stolen equipment was found in his home.
At the national level, the Attorney General reported more than 460 criminal investigations open against the electrical system between 2025 and the first half of 2026, with crimes present in all 15 provinces and 97 municipalities of the country.
The current legal framework is strict. Opinion 475/2025 from the People's Supreme Court classifies the removal or damage to components of the electrical energy system as sabotage, with penalties ranging from seven to 30 years in prison, and the possibility of life imprisonment in aggravated cases.
Recent sentences illustrate its application: in November, four men received sentences of 15 to 20 years in prison for stealing oil from a transformer in Havana, and three others were sentenced to terms ranging from eight to 15 years for similar crimes in Matanzas.
"Everything related to damage that disrupts the normal functioning of a plant in electrical matters is of utmost necessity for the country, and for that reason, it falls under the category of sabotage offenses," warned the judge who presided over one of those trials in Havana.
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