Solar Panel Theft from ETECSA in Santiago de Cuba Leaves Nearly 900 Users Stranded

In a brazen act of theft, two solar panels from the photovoltaic system installed at a telecommunications cabinet belonging to ETECSA in the Santa Bárbara neighborhood of Santiago de Cuba were stolen during the early hours from Friday to Saturday. This incident has resulted in nearly 900 telephony and data users being left without power backup.

Luis Enrique Torres Almarales, head of the Investment Department at ETECSA in the province, reported the theft on Facebook. The affected cabinet is located on Calle 5, between Enramadas and Escario, adjacent to the Miguel Ángel Cano primary school, known locally as “la 45.”

“The photovoltaic system that provided backup and service continuity to almost 900 clients is now gone, in the midst of the severe energy crisis our country is facing,” wrote Torres Almarales. He shared pictures showing the metal framework where the panels once were.

While he did not name the culprits, he insinuated that the community knows them well: “those young and not-so-young individuals who are unemployed, loitering on street corners, playing games, and contemplating easy money, believing themselves untouchable.”

The official expressed his concern over the rising crime rate in Cuba, citing indiscipline, theft, and violence amid widespread apathy.

“Thieves and murderers openly stab people to steal a phone or scooter, showing no respect for life or property. They act with impunity, knowing they will end up in a penitentiary where they receive care and are fed by the society they scorn,” he criticized.

Calls for Stricter Measures

Torres Almarales also called for the revival of the old “vagrancy law,” targeting individuals without jobs. “There are many who don’t work and want to live like royalty, sleeping during the day and causing trouble at night, living off deceit.”

He went further, advocating for the death penalty: “I believe the death penalty should be reinstated. We cannot continue to show leniency towards those unwilling to work, who live off theft and murder the working populace.”

“People are living in fear, and it’s unjust that this is happening. It’s time to take real action—enough with the speeches,” Torres Almarales concluded in his post.

Last week, this engineer also reported acts of vandalism involving rocks thrown at the solar panels of another photovoltaic system at a telecommunications cabinet in the Flores neighborhood, located in the yard of the School of Arts and Crafts in Santiago de Cuba.

Escalating Attacks on Infrastructure

The photos accompanying the Facebook complaint depicted a stone atop the elevated solar panels, enclosed in barbed wire and chain-link fencing. “This is a blatant act of sabotage, a malicious attempt to damage what little progress we can make for society’s benefit,” Torres Almarales stated during that time.

Santiago de Cuba has witnessed a series of attacks on its telecommunications solar infrastructure this year. On May 1, a panel was stolen from the micro 9-2 Integrated Cabinet, disrupting service for over 560 users. Later that month, four panels vanished from the Flores neighborhood cabinet. A few days after, on June 6, another four were taken from the Micro 7 neighborhood.

This pattern of theft is echoed across the island. In Matanzas, three individuals were apprehended in early September for stealing 28 panels meant for water pumping in Los Arabos, with only 21 recovered. In Las Tunas, similar thefts affected ETECSA’s pumping stations and cables in Amancio. In Holguín, four men attacked a station guard to steal 32 panels. Recently in Jovellanos, a man was arrested after climbing a roof to steal a solar panel, with a history of similar offenses.

Despite the Supreme People's Court issuing Ruling 475 in May 2025, categorizing these thefts as sabotage with penalties up to 30 years, life imprisonment, or the death penalty in aggravated cases, authorities have launched over 460 criminal investigations for offenses against the electrical system between 2025 and the first half of 2026.