Madrid/The Artemisa Prosecutor’s Office reported this Wednesday of the arrest of four people linked to a crime of sabotage at the Máximo Gómez Báez thermoelectric plant, located in Mariel, which occurred on September 2. Two of the accused are directly responsible, who cut the cables that connected unit 8 with the fuel supply house, according to official information.
None of them were workers at the plant, but the other two arrested are custodians of the thermoelectric plant who are accused of not having adequately fulfilled their duty. Both are on bail.
The main defendants appropriated 135 meters of 19-track cable, leaving the unit without generation around one in the morning on September 2. According to the Prosecutor’s Office, the workers and managers of the plant were the ones who realized this immediately, avoiding “regrettable consequences for the national electrical system, by stopping generation in an unplanned and abrupt manner, which has happened on other occasions, but due to breakdowns in generation sources and limited access to resources to repair them.”
The press has echoed the information, which specifies the file number of the case, assumed by the Crimes Against State Security Unit, which investigates the case as sabotage and breach of the duty to preserve assets in economic entities.
The statement states that the defendants had 67 meters of electrical cable whose belonging to the affected area the specialists were able to determine.
Last 2 SeptemberOn the day the events occurred, the Unión Eléctrica (UNE) reported through its social networks – like every day – of the expected deficit for the day. With a demand of 3,250 megawatts for the night peak, the company could only generate 990 MW, which meant a lack of 2,290 MW. But during the day the situation was not much better. “1,950 MW deficit during daytime hours. RECORD FOR DAYTIME TIMES!” commented an indignant customer.
In the many comments which has now led to the arrest of the alleged saboteurs, some clients ask for severity for crimes of this type. “One hundred years”, “Life sentence” or “Capital punishment” are some of the demands. More than exaggerations, they are penalties provided for in the penal code for this type of crime, which has associated sentences of between 7 and 15 years, but which can be increased to perpetuity if serious damage or the death of someone is caused.
The Prime Minister, Manuel Marrero, warned in the middle of last year that the State would be relentless with this type of crime and that the destruction, alteration, damage or harm to a long list of “means, resources, buildings, facilities or socioeconomic or military units”, among which are – at the top of the list – energy sources, would be considered sabotage.
At the end of August, The Prosecutor’s Office stressed that this warning is strictly followed and that all the people tried in 2026 for acts of this type have been sentenced for sabotage, the majority to sentences of between nine and 20 years in prison. The Public Ministry estimated that there were 460 criminal investigations initiated in the country between 2025 and the first half of 2026, mainly for sabotage, but also for damages, theft with force, theft and reception. The most common is the theft of dielectric oil in transformers, with more than 300 complaints.
