News · Rights
Life sentences for a watchman's murder and up to 20 years for stealing transformer oil
A court in Santiago de Cuba imposed life imprisonment on the men convicted of a raid on a farming cooperative in Contramaestre, while in Havana sentences of 15 to 20 years for siphoning oil from a substation became final, according to Diario de Cuba and Cubanet.
The Second Criminal Chamber of the Provincial Court of Santiago de Cuba sentenced Roberto Acosta Estrada, Erisdel García Zulueta and Rosendo Ramón Guevara González to life imprisonment for murder and attempted murder. The trial was held on October 25 and the events date back to the night of August 4, 2025, at the Fidel Domenech Rizo farming cooperative in Contramaestre, where one watchman was killed and another seriously injured.
Alexander Bello Macías and Wilfredo Álvarez Macías were given 2 years in prison for handling stolen goods, identified as the buyers of the meat, and the court ordered damages and additional penalties. According to an Interior Ministry statement and pro-government posts cited by Cubanet, the attackers broke in to steal sheep and took at least 12 animals, later found slaughtered at food and leisure premises in the municipality. Those convicted and the prosecution may appeal to the Supreme Court.
In Havana, prison terms of 15 to 20 years for sabotage became final after the Supreme Court refused to hear the defence's appeal, according to a state television report relayed by Diario de Cuba. The events date from July 14, 2025, at the substation serving the Cotorro dairy complex; the defendants, with no criminal records according to the report itself and one of them a watchman at the plant, abandoned 140 litres of oil when they were discovered. State television attributed to the theft a one-day shutdown of production facilities and losses of 13 million, without naming the currency.
Diario de Cuba recalled that in October it reported another 11 convictions, of 12 to 15 years, for offences against the electricity system, and placed these sentences within a run of punishments publicised by state media.
Sources: Diario de Cuba · Cubanet
Data updated: 2026-11-08T16:15:00.000Z