More than 50,000 people were penalized in 2022 by the Cienfuegos Police, in most cases for theft and hoarding of food, assured the provincial newspaper September 5 Officer Daniela Antúnez Jorge.
According to Antúnez, the Police issued “warnings, prophylaxis, family dynamics, educational conversations, revocations or warnings.” In total, around 49,000 fines were imposed, in addition to prosecuting more than 1,000 citizens for complaints.
The bulk of the sanctions focused on the coleros, who illegally hoarded or resold products. In addition, Antúnez complained to the newspaper that, despite the “difficult circumstances” facing the Police, they tried to keep “corruption”, “criminal manifestations” and “social indiscipline” at bay.
The Police also carried out raids against sales on social networks, to which many families resort, despite their excessive prices, given the shortage of food and products for daily use. The police source assured that they acted against nine people who were engaged in online reselling and 63 were fined for selling at an overprice.
The Police also carried out raids against sales on social networks, to which many families resort, despite their excessive prices, given the shortage of food and products for daily use.
This last figure is minuscule compared to the 2,727 fines that Lieutenant Colonel Edgardo Hernández Lorenzo, chief of Police in Cienfuegos, claimed to have imposed on the coleros. In addition, some 600 people were prosecuted for hoarding products, and the dismantling of 38 illegal points of sale, 33 warehouses and nine illegal factories was recorded.
The province did not escape the theft and illegal slaughter of cattle, facts that also reached alarming figures in Villa Clarawith more than 12,000 head, and Las Tunas, with 5,305 events reported at the end of 2022, without taking into account the number of cows that died due to lack of water and adequate food.
The Police did not detail the number of heads of cattle stolen in Cienfuegos and limited itself to pointing out that half of the events had occurred in the municipalities of Rodas, Cumanayagua, Palmira and in the rural areas of the provincial capital.
The official explained that there were more than 1,000 complaints in the province, of which some 300 were related to robbery with force, robbery with violence, theft, drugs and acts against livestock. Some peasants prefer not to report threats from gangs or organize to form vigilance groups in the absence of patrols in the paddocks.
For his part, Antúnez assured that corruption in the economic sector decreased last year. However, he acknowledged that they identified cases of workers and administrative personnel who appropriated state assets, especially in the agriculture, food, commerce, health, and sugarcane sectors.
Groups of criminals also stole animal feed and other raw materials, taking advantage, the lieutenant added, of the lack of demand and follow-up from managers, “coupled with limited conditions for compliance with the service by the custodians.”
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