They report the murder of a Cuban mother in Bejucal

A Cuban mother of two children, a girl and a boy, was allegedly murdered by her partner this Saturday in the municipality of Bejucal, in the province of Mayabeque, according to reports on social media confirmed by sources close to the woman.

The victim, identified as Liset Quesada Romero, was stabbed and had her throat slit by her partner, as revealed in a post from the Facebook group Denouncing Crimes in Cuba.

Quesada Romero was originally from the province of Ciego de Ávila but lived with her children in the aforementioned municipality of Mayabeque. To make matters worse, the woman was murdered hours before turning 34 years old.

The father of the two children resides outside of Cuba.

The crime reporter, Niover Licea, pointed out that the alleged aggressor tried to commit suicide with the same knife used in the crime, but wasn't successful.

According to the source cited, the man is hospitalized and under police custody.

On social media, friends, neighbors, and acquaintances of the deceased woman have been shocked by the tragedy, which could become the 26th verified femicide so far this year.

This same week, platforms reported on Wednesday two new femicides that raised to 25 the number of women who have died as a result of gender-based violence so far this year in Cuba, highlighting the urgency for effective protection systems and shelters for victims at risk of their lives.

The first of them occurred on May 18th in the Barrio Obrero, in the Havana municipality of San Miguel del Padrón. That day, a 32-year-old woman identified as Cindy Samanthy González Espinosa (Samy) was murdered at a friend's house, where she had gone to hide from her ex-partner, who had a history of gender-based violence.

The other femicide was that of Katia Ortiz Figueredo, 25 years old and mother of two minors, who was murdered in broad daylight in the city of Las Tunas on June 5. In this case as well, the victim died at the hands of her ex-partner, who had a history of macho violence against her.

At that time, four other alerts were also being investigated, one in Havana, Artemisa, Camagüey, and Santiago de Cuba.

The platform "YoSíTeCreo en Cuba" and the Gender Observatory Alas Tensas have emphasized the importance of the Cuban government declaring a state of emergency due to gender-based violence and advocate for a comprehensive law against macho violence, as femicide is not classified in the Penal Code of the island.

Miguel Díaz-Canel stated on March 8th that in the country the sentences for femicide tripled in 2023 compared to 2022, going from 18 to 61.

Despite acknowledging that cases of gender-based violence "appear with regrettable frequency," Díaz-Canel argued that the "enemies of the revolution" - whom he did not explicitly mention - "conveniently and tendentiously manipulate" the figures.