SANTA CLARA, Cuba. – Several students from the “Marta Abreu” Central University of Las Villas (UCLV) who were victims of a robbery on January 19 They asked for help on social networks to make the case visible and identify the thief, who was caught on camera, since they have not yet received any response from the Police almost a month after the incident.
The complaint was published on the Facebook profile of activist Guillermo Rodríguez Sánchez, who has more than 60,000 followers.
According to the publication, the robbery occurred in the early morning while the students were sleeping in their room in the C wing of the building known as “El 900.” The individual would have entered through the B wing staircase, guarded by security cameras, since the other entry points were padlocked.
The thief managed to enter two rooms from which he stole three laptops with their accessories, as well as valuable documents, a portable charger, headphones, several coats, money and three backpacks with belongings. Two of the computers were in the same bunk beds where the students slept. From the videos taken by the security cameras, it can be seen that the thief went up and down at least five times until he managed to enter the victims’ rooms, located on the fourth and fifth floors.
Although, according to the information published by Rodríguez Sánchez, in front of that staircase is the nightclub where security and cleaning workers must stand guard, the thief managed to enter the premises even with his face completely uncovered. The students also assured him that the people responsible for ensuring the entry of people outside the residence were sleeping at that time and that the University would have taken measures in this regard.
“The criminal took out the belongings with the students there, shamelessly. He walked around the room, almost breathing on their necks,” indicates Rodríguez Sánchez’s publication. “What would have happened if one of them woke up? Almost certainly a misfortune. A person who goes in to steal like that is always armed, they will always react to the danger of being discovered in some way.”
Although the case was immediately notified to the Police, the victims have still not received a response, not even after providing clear photos of the individual and after another robbery that occurred 15 days ago, in another room of the student residence and with a similar modus operandi. In recent months, at least in Santa Clara, a considerable increase in criminal acts of this type in homes has been reported. According to the information provided to Rodríguez Sánchez, the students “suspect that it is an unpunished gang made up of residents in the neighborhoods surrounding the institution.”
In the comments of the publication, a student who introduces herself as María Alejandra Pardo assured that, at the sales stand called “24 hours”, right in front of the University, “people from the street” always come at night and create a “bad atmosphere.” She assures that, although she herself has tried to inform the person in charge on duty, “he is never there.” “We students are the ones who live in constant fear that they could do the same in other buildings,” laments the young woman.
