JUSTICE · CUBA
Key Facts
- —The country Cuba, a one-party state. Every account of this case traces back to state media: Tribuna de La Habana, Cubadebate and the news agency Prensa Latina.
- —What happened On 2 October 2026 state media reported that Cuba’s Supreme People’s Court upheld sabotage sentences of 15 to 20 years for four men over a transformer oil theft.
- —The numbers 140 litres of oil taken from a Havana dairy substation; losses of 10.27 million pesos (about US$14,800), according to the court as cited by Cubadebate on 2 October.
- —What it means for you Stealing from the power grid is prosecuted in Cuba as a crime against state security, with prison terms that can match those for violent offences.
- —Still open The trial date, the defence’s arguments and any independent account of the case have not been published.
In a Cuba power sabotage case from Havana, the country’s Supreme People’s Court has upheld prison terms of 15 to 20 years for four men. They were caught stealing 140 litres of oil from an electrical transformer at the city’s main dairy plant.
The account comes entirely from Cuban state media. Cubadebate published the ruling on 2 October 2026, citing the court, and the state news agency Prensa Latina repeated it the same morning. The Havana paper Tribuna de La Habana had reported the sentences a day earlier.
What the court says happened
According to the court summary, the men entered the substation of the Havana Dairy Complex at night. One of them worked as a security guard at the plant.
They drained the transformer and filled seven 20-litre drums with insulating oil, intending to sell it. Other members of the plant’s security team stopped them as they tried to leave.
Transformer oil cools and insulates the equipment that steps down grid voltage. Without it, the unit cannot run, and the court says the plant’s production stopped completely.
Sentences of 15 to 20 years
The four defendants, Noerlis Agüero Aguirre, Yoel Noel Ortiz Fontes, Andy Travieso Salazar and Ramón David Cruz Grajales, received terms of 15, 16, 18 and 20 years; the reports did not say who got which. The court said the terms reflected each man’s role and the economic harm caused.
They were convicted of sabotage under Articles 125 and 126 of the Penal Code. The court cited three aggravating factors: more than three participants, darkness and a profit motive.
Only Agüero Aguirre appealed. The court’s chamber for crimes against state security rejected that appeal and confirmed the original ruling.
Additional penalties include loss of civic rights, a ban on leaving the country and confiscation of property.
Why Havana treats it as Cuba power sabotage
The court put the losses at 10.27 million Cuban pesos (about US$14,800 at the central bank’s rate of 693 pesos per dollar on 2 October) in goods meant for the ration basket and school snacks.
Cubadebate said the trial was meant to be exemplary, linking it to the island’s energy shortage, which the government blames on the US embargo. Cuba has suffered repeated grid failures this year, including an eighth nationwide blackout in September.
Supply remains thin. The state grid operator warned of a 2,000 MW shortfall at peak in September and every damaged transformer adds to the strain.
Two readings of the verdict
For the government, the ruling in this Cuba power sabotage case shows that theft from a fragile grid will be punished hard. Here, the court says, one theft halted a plant that supplies food for the ration system.
The case also shows how widely the sabotage charge is applied. A theft of oil was tried as a crime against state security, and the defendants’ side has not been heard publicly.
What Is Not Yet Known
State media did not give the date of the trial or of the appeal hearing. No statement from the defence has been published.
Cubadebate said its summary was generated with artificial intelligence and checked by a journalist. The independent outlet 14ymedio covered the case on 1 October, but only by relaying the state paper’s account; no independent source has confirmed the facts.
More: Cuba news in English, every day from The Rio Times.
Sources: Cubadebate, “Tribunal Supremo ratifica condenas de hasta 20 años por sabotaje al sistema eléctrico en Lácteo de La Habana”, 2 October 2026, citing the Supreme People’s Court; Prensa Latina, “Ratifican condenas contra implicados en sabotaje eléctrico en Cuba”, 2 October 2026; Central Bank of Cuba official exchange rate, 2 October 2026; 14ymedio, 1 October 2026, citing Tribuna de La Habana.
This article was produced by The Rio Times’ automated newsroom system. How we use AI · Report an error · Editorial responsibility: Matthias Camenzind, Editor-in-Chief