Nighttime Crime and Illegal Occupations Multiply in Cuba
Amid a shortage of security guards
HAVANA TIMES – Not even in the early 2000s, when he worked as a security guard at a semi-abandoned sugar mill, did Nelson Salcedo experience a situation comparable to the current one. “And that was despite the large amount of construction materials people stole from there, taking advantage of how big the factory was and how little protection we could provide. But there were limits. Hardly anyone dared to attack a security guard, much less kill one. Things have changed a lot since then,” he lamented.
Forced by this “change of times,” Nelson quit his job as a night watchman at the University of Camagüey a few days ago. He made the decision after he and his partner on the night shift were pelted with stones by a group of vandals who intended to steal the doors from several classrooms. In the end, they succeeded. By the time the police arrived, nearly three hours after Nelson and his partner had called them, the thieves were long gone, taking four doors and several LED lamps with them.
Two days earlier, a member of another security shift had to be rushed to a nearby hospital after he was found unconscious with a severe blow to the head. Someone had attacked him with a metal bar or a stick as he rode his bicycle along one of the streets inside the student residence complex. His attackers had taken advantage of the prevailing darkness — as was almost always the case, there was a blackout — to assault him and steal the bicycle he used to make his rounds of the buildings under his watch. “They almost killed him,” Nelson said.
The morning he went to resign, his boss tried to persuade him to reconsider, appealing to their friendship and to a possible salary increase for security guards, particularly those working nights. His departure would worsen the security crisis facing the institution, he told him. Most security shifts already have only half the guards they are supposed to have, or even fewer. And new resignations come in every day.
But Nelson would not budge. “For 4,500 pesos a month (US $6.60), I wasn’t willing to keep putting my life at risk. Not there or anywhere else,” he said.
Putting Their Faith in God
In late August, the two guards on the night shift at the parking lot of the provincial hospital in Las Tunas were poisoned by a group of people who then stole a tricycle and several electric motorcycles. One of the guards died and his colleague was hospitalized. It was later learned that the poisoning had been caused by coffee someone had offered them in an apparent gesture of kindness.
Several attacks on security guards have gained notoriety recently, usually because of their violence. A review of the independent press, along with occasional reports in state media, found at least five trials held over the past two years involving defendants accused of murdering security guards while they were on duty. Another trial is expected to take place soon in the Santiago de Cuba municipality of Contramaestre to determine the degree of involvement of six people detained in connection with the murder of a guard at a cooperative farm in August of last year. The assailants had attacked another guard as well, leaving him for dead because of the severity of the injuries they inflicted.
The brutality of these attacks is even more disturbing when compared with the relatively low value of the goods stolen. In Contramaestre, the criminals took 13 sheep, while in two other similar incidents — which also ended with the deaths of security guards — the targets were a mule and five truck batteries. In the trials that have already concluded, sentences ranged from 25 years in prison to life imprisonment.
“Crimes that serious should only be punished with the death penalty,” Nelson countered. In his opinion, any other sentence is unlikely to be fully served, “because after a couple of years they transfer prisoners to camps [correctional work facilities with a much less severe regime than prisons], and they even start giving them passes to visit their families. Who knows how many crimes have been committed by prisoners out on passes for ‘good behavior’!” he complained.
The lack of protection in the face of growing violence has led many security guards to quit. Even farm owners and other private business owners are finding it difficult to find people willing to spend the night guarding property that could cost them their lives. Facebook groups devoted to agriculture in Cuba or the management of private businesses are filled with offers for “couples or single men” willing to look after a particular property, almost always with room and board included. But even though the pay is often several times higher than in the state sector, finding candidates is not easy.
“Even tourism, which used to be the most privileged ministry, is in crisis. And they don’t know how to solve it,” said Mariela, a housekeeper at one of the hotels on Santa Lucía Beach, northeast of the city of Camagüey. After months of being closed because of the lack of foreign tourists, workers have been given the option of remaining employed at a much lower salary as security personnel. Very few have accepted the offer. “They finally made that decision after the hotels had already suffered countless robberies. With no vacationers or service employees, and almost no security, they have become a paradise for thieves. In some sections of my hotel, there are rooms that have been completely ‘cleaned out,’” she said.
The current situation only appears likely to worsen because of police inaction and the deepening economic crisis, with blackouts providing favorable conditions for those seeking to profit from other people’s property. The lack of tourists in hotels and students at large schools and universities further aggravates the problem. Even at the few educational institutions that resumed classes with boarding students on September 1, administrators decided that dormitories should be locked from the inside at night after the students enter, in an effort to make it more difficult for prowlers to operate.
Recently, the shortage of security guards reached a new level in Camagüey when a dozen mothers with large families occupied a building belonging to the University of Medical Sciences. They justified their action by saying they did not have homes of their own and that their presence would not interfere with the operation of the educational institution. But shortly afterward, the husbands of two of the women were caught stealing from a student residence. Following the incident, the influencer who posted the news on social media and urged authorities not to retaliate against the women and their children inadvertently sparked a debate on the issue. Most of those who commented were, at the very least, reluctant to allow the families to remain there. And nearly everyone called on the government to take more drastic measures to combat crime.
“We’ve reached the point where, if you’re on guard duty when night falls, all you can do is put yourself in the hands of God and all the saints. There’s no way to live like this,” reflected an internet user who signed his comment “Anonymous Participant.” Evidently, he was a security guard scared by bad experiences.