Madrid/Prime Minister Manuel Marrero, warned again in A meeting with the authorities: Given the conditions in which the country is found, fuel theft can be considered a crime of sabotage. The appointment addressed the results of the “confrontation” to the crime whose figures, according to officials, tend to descend, but remain high. The most worrisome, precisely, are those linked to the subtraction of liquefied oil and gas and come from within: the cases increase in the servicenters and there are “deviations” in cylinders, underlines the official press.
“It is not possible that today the country has a deficit in power generation capabilities due to lack of fuels, and at the same time allow its robbery,” Marrero cried. The Prime Minister defended that “the low amount of fuel” that the State can “pay and buy” is intended for electricity generation, so it is essential to closely control “the minimum assigned to the economy” and “modify the forms of action before the indisciplines.”
The prime minister said that these crimes could be judged as sabotage, one of the most serious crimes of the Criminal Code, with sentences between four and ten years in prison. The warning is not new, since the Criminal Code provides, precisely, to apply to those who “destroy, alter, damage or harm” a long list of “media, resources, buildings, facilities or socio -economic or military units” among which are – finding the list – the energy sources.
Cases of fuel theft are already being judged as “sabotage” in recent times. One of the most popular took place last April, with a seven -year sentence
Cases of fuel theft are already being judged as “sabotage” in recent times. One of the most popular took place last April, when an Avileño court condemned seven years in prison to a worker of a generator group for stealing “30 liters of diesel” in 2024. Although the employee had no background, the facts were considered beyond the robbery for their “severity and lesivity.” “The crime of sabotage affects the public good and internal security of the State,” said the Prosecutor’s Office.
In February, the mayor of Manzanillo, in Granma, It was arrested along with other officials to do business on the left with oil for services and state companies. The news was an exclusive 14ymediobut the official press has not informed of these facts and the criminal situation of the detainees or what crimes are imputed are unknown.
The crimes for which the theft of fuel was judged were previously embezzlement or improper appropriation (depending on whether an official responsible for the good or not), theft or theft (depending on whether or not the strength was used), and reception, in the event that it acquired fraudulently acquired. This was explained in 2019 Reinaldo Cruz Rivera, vice -fiscal general of the Republic of Cuba – even in office -, in an article by Cubadebate Dedicated to the incessant theft of this product.
The text indicated that in the first half of the year there were 339 criminal proceedings for these crimes and 117,463 liters of fuel of different types, 85,823 of diesel and 21,016 of gasoline had been seized, causing damage estimated at 488,644 pesos. With these data, the medium questioned that decisions made by the Government were being effective. Then the 1987 Criminal Code was in force, which already had the same wording for sabotage and, nevertheless, it was not applied to theft of fuel.
Marrero Cruz urged “determining and mitigating the causes and conditions caused by indisciplines around the sale of liquefied oil gas”
Marrero Cruz asked, at the recent meeting, that surveillance is increased – something that has been indicated without success in numerous meetings – and urged to “determine and mitigate the causes and conditions caused by indisciplines around the sale of liquefied petroleum gas”, although it is evident that scarcity, when not absence, of the product is what stimulates theft. Colonel Daniset González Sánchez specified that part of the responsibility comes from “the maximum pressure against the island by the US government, oversizing the situation of the country to encourage subversive actions.”
As for other crimes, it was determined that there is an insufficient action against officials, responsible for many economic crimes, which are the work of those who operate from within the institutions and know their vulnerabilities. ” Theft with force increased, as many citizens constantly denounce in social networks, despite the fact that the global amount of infractions has dropped, the authorities indicated, without offering, as usual, data.
The crimes associated with cattle also fell, the majority being thefts “since only 25% of cases show indications of sacrifice.” In addition, “more than 200 prevention and confrontation actions” were carried out in the field of drugs, and although it is indicated that “important volumes of narcotics” were retained, the quantity was not said either.
Reinaldo Cruz Rivera warned that many fines are imposed – increasingly without numbers that support it – but very few are charged, which “encourages impunity.” That is why he called to “optimize and supervise the functioning of the impulsive entities, as well as the collection offices, to avoid breaches”, without clarifying how they foresee proceeding eventually against a delinquent.
