Thieves steal the cables and pumps from the water supply panels
14ymedio, Havana, 26 January 2025– So much enthusiasm over the installation of photovoltaic parks, which the press mentions as the solution to all the energy ills of the Island, has made the Cuban authorities look for a pretext to wash their hands of the project if it fails, like so many other projects have. The thefts of panels and electrical components that, according to the government, destroy photovoltaic parks, have become the perfect excuse.
The main objective is the solar panels that guarantee the supply of water in “isolated communities of the nation” and the perpetrators are “unscrupulous people who steal electrical installations and even solar panels, in order to obtain certain economic gains, without stopping to think about the damage they cause to the residents of those sites,” reports Granma, the official organ of the Communist Party.
The State newspaper adds that, just in Holguín, “at least three pumping systems have been affected by robberies. One occurred in the town of Pedernales, near the city of Holguín, where solar panels were stolen on two occasions.”
The authorities have concluded that “the rate of acts against the equipment of photovoltaic pumping installations has been increasing”
The “inquiries” of the authorities have concluded that “the rate of acts against the equipment of photovoltaic pumping facilities has been increasing. These are technologies that are not in large parks, but in isolated places, in the vicinity of communities, which makes them vulnerable to harassment by unscrupulous people, who try to profit from collective goods,” said Alexander Valdespino, president of Cubasolar, which promotes the use of renewable energies.
The company is especially involved because it is their equipment – donated or financed many times by foreign governments and entities – that ends up in the hands of thieves. The managers no longer know what to do about the criminals, and the list of robberies continues to grow, Valdespino claims.
“In Manantialito, belonging to the community of Rejondones de Báguanos, they installed one of those pumping systems, but after a while, they stole the cables,” says Granma quoting the manager. The same happened in Tacámara Cuatro, where the thieves took “two pumps and the cables,” and in Playa Girón, where they looted a pump and “other components.”
In Desembarco del Granma, in Banes, the thugs were not so lucky: “They were close to taking the pump, but when they were detected, they withdrew in a hurry with the cables,” said the media, which attributed to the thieves the failure of the “extraordinary effort made by Cuba to improve the quality of life of the population.”
In recent years Cuba has installed dozens of solar parks financed by China, Russia and the European Union
In recent years, Cuba has installed dozens of solar parks financed by China, Russia, the European Union and even international institutions such as the United Nations. During that time, the propaganda about the benefits of the use of clean energy has not stopped in the official press, which forgets that despite the installation of the equipment, the Island has been reporting an energy deficit of around 1,000 megawatts per day for months.
However, the thefts that have occurred reveal that Cubans have an interest in the panels that is far from the wishes of the Government, and it is not the first time that Granma has tried to defend the Government by alleging “crimes.” In December, the newspaper published information that revealed that the panels installed four months earlier to supply energy to a multitude of pumping stations in Las Tunas had already suffered “eight criminal acts, specifically theft.”
A few days earlier, a fire in the Alcalde Mayor solar park in Abreus alarmed the Cienfuegos Electric Company. The fire originated in an area where some solar panels were stacked, waiting to be installed, but “no other equipment was affected,” Granma reported at the time.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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