The murder of a Cuban mother by her ex-partner in Santa Clara, Villa Clara, earlier this month left two girls orphaned and raised the number of femicides in Cuba to 46 in 2024, according to reports from independent platforms.
The lifeless body of Elaine González Estrada was found on November 5 at her ex-partner's home, two days after she had gone missing, reported this Thursday the women's violence observatories YoSíTeCreo in Cuba and the magazine Alas Tensas.
According to the statement, the assailant fled the scene but has since been captured by the police.
However, the platform warned about cases of femicide where there have been early citizen alerts regarding disappearances, which “are still not considered key by the authorities.”
"The response time is crucial for finding a person at risk alive," stated YoSíTeCreo in Cuba.
The note also highlights "the revictimization that the family has endured due to the inadequate work of the authorities, as they have reported on social media" and expresses condolences to González's daughters and the rest of his family and loved ones.
The disappearance of the Cuban mother gained traction on social media following reports from her family and friends, who began their search on November 3rd.
Last week, the Facebook profile "Desaparecidos dentro de Cuba. Somos tu voz" revealed that the victim had been "found buried in the kitchen of the attacker's house," and he remained at large at that time.
The platforms YoSíTeCreo in Cuba and Alas Tensas also reported this Thursday that five attempted femicides have been recorded, and access to the police investigation of six potential cases of crimes of this nature is needed. These incidents occurred in Havana (3), Santiago de Cuba (2), and Villa Clara (1).
Feminist organizations are also investigating other potential feminicides: two in Matanzas and one each in Las Tunas, Holguín, Guantánamo, Ciego de Ávila, and Santiago de Cuba.
The underreporting recorded by both platforms counted a total of 89 femicides in the country in 2023. However, in December of that year, the Cuban government revealed official statistics on violence against women and stated that up to the end of October, 117 femicides had been reported, although it did not use that term to refer to the murders.
The authorities' records exceed the number of violent deaths of women reported by independent civil society feminist organizations in Cuba that focus on women's issues and the protection of their rights.
In August, the regime revealed that in 2023, 110 cases of murders of women aged 15 and older for gender-related reasons were tried in courts, according to data from the Cuba Gender Equality Observatory.
A total of 378 cases of sexual violence were judged, and an unspecified number of women were left injured following attacks by their former partners.
In the Cuban Penal Code, femicide is not classified as a crime, nor are the terms "femicide" or "machismo crime" used.
The official Federation of Cuban Women (FMC) has acknowledged that more than 16,000 women and girls, from 9,579 families, are living in situations of violence in the country.
In July, the government established a national system for the registration, attention, tracking, and monitoring of incidents of gender violence within the family context.
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