Managers, custodians and neighbors of the facilities are involved in numerous cases of oil theft
14ymedio, Madrid, October 23, 2025 — Most of the fuel stolen in Cuba is the responsibility of workers in state-owned enterprises. This follows from the litany of examples presented this Wednesday, in a special program of Hacemos Cuba, by regime spokesman Humberto López, aimed at curbing a bleeding that doesn’t seem to stop.
One of the guests, Yarianna Guerra González, director general of the fuel marketing company Unión-Cuba Petróleo (Cupet), under the Ministry of Energy and Mines, explained that in this entity, oil is mainly subtracted from “large storage capacities” and is then transported in tank trucks to all corners of the country.
“There are several flaws in the process,” acknowledged the official, who explained how the theft is carried out. The tanks must maintain a certain temperature, and when it is higher the fuel evaporates. The “people aware of this activity” manipulate the temperature on paper, indicating that it is higher and therefore some fuel evaporated, when in reality they appropriate it.
With this system, “you could lose up to 20,000 or 30,000 liters of fuel” a day, she said, pointing out that the procedure is not simple and that it “fundamentally” involves not only operators, but also brigade directors, managers and even custodians present at the site.
Up to ten years in prison for 17 people accused of stealing and reselling more than 800,000 liters of jet fuel
This was the case in one of the show trials mentioned on the program, held in Havana earlier this year. Up to 10 years in prison was the sentence for 17 people accused of stealing and reselling more than 800,000 liters of aircraft fuel that the Hydrocarbon Transport Company had stored on a farm belonging to the Havana Agroforestry Company, in the municipality of Guanabacoa. The events involved managers of the entity, as well as custodians, residents in the vicinity and drivers for other state enterprises and the private sector.
Accused of “robbery with force in a continuous manner,” “embezzlement,” “bribery” and “receiving,” those involved caused an economic gap of almost 18 million pesos, which the sentence obliged them to “repair.”
Thefts of fuel from the Berroa generator group in Havana and from a similar facility in Güines, Mayabeque, were also presented in the program. They revealed a similar modus operandi: State workers, including bosses, act “in collusion” with residents in the immediate vicinity to commit the crime. For all this, there are still “four or five” trials in progress that have not yet concluded.
The crime they face is not minor, repeated López and his guests, but is very serious and can carry prison sentences of up to 30 years for sabotage. They said that “tackling fuel crime” is a “priority” due to the “energy crisis situation.” The People’s Supreme Court already stated last May that “acts of vandalism to strategic infrastructures” in the country are considered sabotage, “even when they don’t have that intention.”
However, once again, threats do not seem to be of much use. Authorities did not provide the overall figures, but the amount of stolen fuel recovered between January and August 2025, 350,000 liters, gives a measure of what was actually lost. That figure, they said, would be enough to “provide electrical service to 5,500 houses for one month.”
“We must establish tighter control of the technology, a vulnerability that we have today”
“What are we going to do to prevent it from happening?” Lopez asked those present. “We must establish tighter control of the technology, a vulnerability that we have today,” replied Guerra González, referring to the reinforcement of cameras and other surveillance equipment. The announcer insisted that “the main problem here is not equipment but people.”
To that they answered: “People are also being treated preventively. We try to talk with them and explain to their families all the things that could happen if they break the law.”
In addition, said Mario Pedroso Caballero, director general of the Electric Power Plant and Services Company of the Electric Union of Cuba, “we are doing better in the selection of staff,” but not just focusing on this, “because at that moment someone can seem to be very good, but in the course of time they can deviate.”
In fact, explained the official, such organizations are governed by Decree 200, which does not allow employees with criminal records. “We haven’t had people come in with criminal records, the key is after,” he said, referring to those possible “deviations.”
Before launching a new program on the same topic next week, “What must be made clear is that this all-out war will not go unpunished.”
Translated by Regina Anavy
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