FMC recognizes an increase in "femicides" in Cuba after the pandemic.

The Federation of Cuban Women (FMC) acknowledged that there has been an increase in femicides in the country - although it refuses to use that term and employs the term femicide - since the pandemic.

In an interview with Dania Rodríguez and Omaida Hernández, responsible for international relations of the organization, both admitted that there is an increase in gender violence in Cuba and that there is a lack of awareness on the issue.

"This year, and especially since the pandemic, there has been an increase in gender-based violence and femicides," they told RojoyNegro Cgt, spokesperson for the Spanish General Confederation of Labor (CGT).

With great caution, the directives commented that at police stations, acts of violence can be reported, but "we need to train the professionals who work there and ensure that there are more women to assist the victims."

"The problem is that only 3% of female victims report it," they stated.

Without mentioning the economic and social crisis that is hitting the country, the interviewees said that the FMC is "studying the causes" of the increase in murders of women and that the most important task at this moment is to empower them.

"The first measure that can be taken against abusive individuals is to deprive them of their freedom for up to 30 years and even impose a life sentence if they are repeat offenders," they emphasized.

The FMC, defender of the regime's interests, tried to dissociate itself from responsibility for the increase in crimes against women by saying that in Cuba the term femicide is used and not feminicide, as the latter implies that institutions are complicit through institutional violence, "and we assert that Cuban institutions are not."

Last week, a 25-year-old woman was killed by her ex-partner in Güines, a municipality in Mayabeque, in what could be the 33rd femicide so far this year in Cuba.

The incident occurred in the Leguina neighborhood. The victim, identified as Saimí Hernández, mother of a young child, received three stab wounds.

It was confirmed that the author of the crime was a man who had been her partner and had a lengthy criminal record.

Days earlier, the independent feminist platform YoSíTeCreo en Cuba raised the number of femicides that occurred in 2024 to 32, after verifying the death of 16-year-old Yenifer Vargas Gómez, who was stabbed by her ex-boyfriend in Santiago de Cuba.

The underreporting conducted by the Gender Observatory Alas Tensas (OGAT) and YoSíTeCreo in Cuba until August 14 was 32 femicides, three attempted femicides, six cases needing access to police investigation, and two murders of men for gender-related reasons.