Neighbors stop electrical cable theft in Santiago de Cuba

Residents of the Jiménez neighborhood in Santiago de Cuba stopped an attempted theft of electrical connections early in the morning.

Yaneydis Hechavarría, the president of the Municipal Assembly of the People's Power of Santiago de Cuba, said that the community worked with a local delegate named Isabel and the Electric Company to stop the crime. This coordinated action allowed the group to recover stolen cables and restore electricity to several homes in the area.

The incident occurred during a period of increased community surveillance in Santiago de Cuba. Authorities launched a movement called My Neighborhood for the Homeland in late October to organize night patrols. These patrols aim to protect public facilities and infrastructure from a rise in thefts targeting the electrical system.

The city has faced several such crimes recently, including a theft at a nearby radio base in June and a cable theft in August that left a neighborhood without power for five days. Nationally, the Attorney General reported over 460 criminal investigations into electrical system crimes between 2025 and the first half of 2026. The People's Supreme Court now classifies damaging electrical components as sabotage, which carries prison sentences of seven to 30 years.