Update on Cuba’s death spiral: 152% increase in crime in the past year

From our Bureau for Socialist Crime Prevention with some help from our Office of failed states struggling to hide their deadly spiral and our Every man for himself and God against all agencies

Oddly enough, Talking Heads’ 1988 eco-apocalyptic song “Nothing but flowers” contains a prophetic line about Castrogonia: “And as things fell apart, nobody paid much attention.” Of course, David Byrne and his band didn’t have Cuba in mind at all, but this chorus accurately sums up the current moment in Cuba, 36 years after the song’s release.

Everything is falling apart, that’s for sure, and Castro, Inc. can’t do anything about it. And as Castrogonia spirals deeper into death, one of the worst consequences is an increase in crime.

In related news: the number Cuban women murdered by their partners or ex-partners since New Year’s Day has risen to 32. These are confirmed murders. The real number is likely higher.

The last prophetic line of “Nothing But Flowers” ​​also sums up how every Cuban must feel right now: “Don’t leave me here, I can’t get used to this lifestyle…”

Shortened and freely translated from Marti News

The Cuban population is increasingly reporting incidents of theft, street fights and murders on social media.

A report published on Monday by the Cuban Citizen Audit Observatory (OCAC) on insecurity on the island showed that 432 crimes were documented in the first half of 2024, which equates to an average of 2.37 crimes per day. This is a 152% increase compared to the same period last year.

In the last 10 days, a series of violent events, confirmed by friends and family of the victims, have shocked Cubans. A young man identified as Hansel was murdered on Friday night in Sancti Spíritus. On the same day, Usiel Quesada Florat died in Camagüey after being stabbed in the back, and Yasser Damián Martínez Corea, a resident of Central Havana, was attacked with a knife. In Holguín, Michel Manduley was fatally stabbed.

On Tuesday evening, 16-year-old Yenifer Vargas Gómez died in a hospital after being seriously injured by her boyfriend in Santiago de Cuba.

“What is worrying is not only the number of different types of crimes, assaults, thefts, etc., but the accelerated trend of increasing crime in the country. If you compare the first half of last year with the first half of this year, you see an increase of more than 150 percent in crime in almost all categories,” said Juan Antonio Blanco, president of the Miami-based OCAC, in an interview with Martí Noticias.

“The months of June and July were the most violent of the year (2023), with a notable increase in crimes ranging from robbery to murder. Of the 649 crimes reported, 265 were robberies, 199 people were murdered in 197 incidents, and 124 people were assaulted, an average of 1.82 crimes per day,” the Observatory describes.

The OCAC, an independent organisation, describes in its dossier the escalation of corruption, the rise of youth gangs and the increase in drug use.

The OCAC report contrasts with statements made on national television by Beatriz Peña de la O, head of the Investigations Department of the Criminal Prosecutions Directorate of the Public Prosecution Service, who claimed that there has been no increase in crime, but that the perception of aggression in the country has increased recently.

The organization attributes the rise in crime to factors such as “the exhaustion and lack of professionalism of the police, changes in social and cultural values, and a growing perception of impunity and corruption within the Cuban judicial system.”

OCAC analysis shows violent crime increased in the first six months of 2024, with a 111% increase in homicides, a 290% increase in assaults and a 208% increase in robberies compared to 2023.

The provinces with the most reports are Havana, with 146 documented incidents; Villa Clara, with 80; Santiago de Cuba, with 63; Holguín, with 40; and Guantánamo with 28.