HAVANA, Cuba. – Over the past few years, there have been numerous reports of the desecration of tombs in the Columbus Cemeterywhich has provoked outrage among the relatives of the deceased. But now alarm bells are also ringing over daylight robberies inside the cemetery.
A cemetery worker, who spoke with CubaNet On condition of anonymity for fear of losing his job, he spoke about the dangers that tourists may face when entering the necropolis and the measures they have tried to take to prevent assaults and other criminal acts against visitors.
“Criminals jump over the walls and hide inside the cemetery to keep an eye on tourists and attack them for their clothes and other valuables. They target them with knives and other sharp weapons,” he said.
The interviewee said that when foreign visitors pass by the cemetery, they are advised to be careful and try to stay away from “the most remote places where criminals may be hiding.”
“There is even a patrol of the Police in the vicinity to try to prevent these incidents. But the criminals look like ninjas when they jump over the walls to steal from tourists or anyone else who has valuables on them,” says the worker.
A security guard stationed at the entrance to the cemetery said that surveillance cameras have not been installed in the entire cemetery area. “They have only halfway finished installing the cameras, but they are needed throughout the cemetery. It is known that graves have been desecrated for religious purposes or to steal the corpses, but crimes against people have increased and we cannot do much because this cemetery is almost a city,” he said.
The Colón Cemetery was founded in 1871 and was declared a National Monument in 1987. The late historian of Havana Eusebio Leal developed various projects to stop the looting of its monuments and preserve the precious history of the place, but theft and deterioration have once again taken their toll on the cemetery.
