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There are 24 solar park guards held over complicity in thefts, says the Unión Eléctrica
An executive of the Unión Eléctrica said on the state television programme Hacemos Cuba that at least 24 guards are being held over thefts at photovoltaic facilities, which are prosecuted as sabotage, and said those workers earn some 5,000 pesos a month, about six dollars at the informal exchange rate.
Argelis Lescay Martínez, head of the renewable energy investment group at the Unión Eléctrica, said on the programme Hacemos Cuba, on Canal Caribe, that there are at least 24 guards held over thefts at solar parks and that 23 of them "have already been permanently dismissed from the organization," in remarks translated by Yamacoa, while one remains under precautionary measures because he is under investigation, according to 14ymedio's account.
The acts are prosecuted as the crime of sabotage, carrying sentences of four to ten years in prison in their mildest form that can reach 30 years, life imprisonment or death if the consequences are serious or affect someone's personal safety.
According to the figures the official himself provided, the guards are on pay scale six for support staff, with a base wage of 4,065 pesos and a supplement of around 877: some 5,000 pesos a month, about six dollars at the informal exchange rate. "I think the best people have to be the ones guarding the park," he said, in remarks translated by Yamacoa, though he insisted that the problem is not only pay.
Lescay Martínez explained that the 46 parks already installed have between 26 and 28 panels per table or metal structure, and that taking just one is enough to disable the whole circuit: some 15.5 kilowatt hours that are no longer generated. He added that many thefts happen before the park is switched on, with the parts stored inside the fence, and that neither fences nor cameras have prevented it.
On the same programme, Junior González Núñez, first vice-president of the Water and Sanitation Business Group of the National Institute of Hydraulic Resources, disagreed: "We have... let us say a high level of wage demotivation. We are one of the lowest salaries in the country's business systems today," in remarks translated by Yamacoa. According to him, some 856 communities have panels for pumping water, out of the more than 1,300 planned, and any of those thefts can leave more than 20 families without running water.
Sources: 14ymedio · Cubadebate · Serie Yamacoa: Afectación eléctrica máxima prevista en el horario pico (Unión Eléctrica (UNE))
Data updated: 2026-10-23T16:15:00.000Z