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The mother of Maydeleisis Rosales Rodríguez, a teenager who has been missing since 2021, has begun receiving death threats via social media in a new episode of anguish and uncertainty marked by impunity and official indifference.
“I am being threatened through social media”, reported Isis Rodríguez Ameneiro in statements to CubaNet, an independent outlet that has been following the case since its inception.
After more than four years without concrete news about her daughter's whereabouts, Rodríguez is now facing intimidating messages sent through Facebook, in which she is not only being asked for money, but is also being extorted with explicit threats against her life and that of the missing minor.
Extortion, threats, and fear
According to the public complaint, the threats began last week and come from a social media profile identified as “Caimán Caimán.”
This user demands the payment of 30,000 Cuban pesos in exchange for alleged information about his daughter and issues death threats if the extortion is not met.
“He is extorting me, he is threatening to kill my daughter and to kill me. I am scared because I don’t know if the threat is real or just an attempt to scam me using my pain and suffering,” expressed the desperate mother.
CubaNet had access to some of the messages, which include phrases such as:
"Look at how your daughter is being slaughtered. Give me a minute to send you a video, so you can see that I’m not joking."
In another message, the extortionist provides a bank card number -9227 0699 9085 5471- to which she must send the money, warning her that if she does not comply, he will kill her and her daughter.
“He told me that if I don't send him the money [...] he's going to kill my daughter and me because no one will catch him”, Rodríguez Ameneiro recounted.
Institutional indifference
As has happened since the beginning of the case, the response from the Cuban authorities has been non-existent or evasive. The mother of the missing girl stated that she had gone last Thursday to the police unit on Zanja Street in Havana with evidence of the messages.
However, the outcome was disappointing.
“The response was that it could be a fake profile and that it can't be traced. They didn't provide me with any help, protection, or reassurance, nor did they say: ‘Look, don't worry, nothing is going to happen to you.’”, he reported.
This pattern of neglect is not new.
In June 2023, the woman had already stated that she felt deeply disappointed with the official investigation.
"It has been very hard for me, too hard, because it's not easy; it's my daughter, and all her belongings are here... it's tough to wake up every day and think about where she might be," she lamented then.
Even in the early days following her disappearance, the first thing they told her at the police station was that her daughter had surely fallen victim to trafficking or prostitution, without any basis or prior investigation.
Disappearance without answers since 2021
Maydeleisis Rosales Rodríguez was last seen on May 30, 2021, in the park located at Campanario and Malecón, in the municipality of Centro Habana.
I was 16 years old at the time and wearing patterned leggings and a gray sweater.
Since then, no evidence has been found that would indicate their whereabouts.
In the following days, her mother offered a reward of 5,000 pesos to anyone who could provide reliable information. However, neither citizen reports nor institutional efforts yielded any results.
The case remains officially open, but in practice, it has been rendered invisible.
The emergence of the "Alerta Mayde"
The case of Maydeleisis inspired the creation of Alerta Mayde, an initiative driven by Cuban activists to raise awareness and address cases of missing minors on the Island.
The proposal is based on the Amber Alert model from the United States, designed to issue emergency notifications regarding child disappearances.
However, the Alerta Mayde still lacks state recognition or institutional support, and its implementation is limited to digital activism and some community support networks.
Between pain and impunity
On May 30, 2026, it will be five years since Maydeleisis disappeared. In the meantime, her mother continues to await answers, not only about her whereabouts but also regarding the threats that now endanger her own life.
“There are many people who have no scruples, who want to profit from any misfortune,” she reported, clearly affected.
Despite the threats being documented and shared with the authorities, no protection has been guaranteed so far, nor has a formal investigation been initiated against the profile from which the extortions are carried out.
The story of Isis Rodríguez and her daughter is a stark portrayal of institutional indifference to the disappearance of minors in Cuba. She has not only had to endure years of anguish without answers but is now a direct victim of intimidation, with the Cuban state providing no minimal guarantees of protection.
In a country where there is no official protocol for the search for missing minors, where public alerts are not triggered and portraits are not shared in state media, families are left alone, at the mercy of time, uncertainty, and, as in this case, unscrupulous opportunists.
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