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A 59-year-old Cuban nurse identified as Magaly Aragón Aragón was brutally murdered on January 6 in the Las Mulas prison camp, located in Jatibonico, Sancti Spíritus province, where she worked.
The victim's body was found in a nearby sugarcane field, after being the victim of a violent sexual assault that culminated in femicide, as confirmed on social media by feminist platforms.
This is the first verified gender-based crime in the country this year, and it once again highlights the extreme level of impunity and institutional disempowerment that women face in Cuba, even within state environments.
The murder of Magaly Aragón -who is survived by two adult children- was carried out by a man with a history of violence, according to confirmations from the independent gender observatories Yo Sí Te Creo en Cuba (YSTCC) and the Gender Observatory of Alas Tensas (OGAT).
"We highlight and denounce the sexual nature of the violence that resulted in Magaly's death, as well as the perpetrator's history of violence," stated OGAT and YSTCC in their joint statement.
“The femicide of Magaly Aragón is not an isolated incident, but rather the result of a system that does not protect, does not prevent, and does not react in time,” warn representatives from OGAT and YSTCC.
The alleged attacker, an inmate at the Las Mulas correctional facility - where the victim worked - confessed to the murder and indicated where the body was located, which he sexually assaulted post mortem, as detailed by Martí Noticias.
The same source revealed that the alleged murderer -identified as Yoel Soriano- Santana- was serving a 26-year prison sentence for a similar murder at the time of the femicide.
Soriano Santana had entered the penitentiary system on November 17, 2005.
According to community sources consulted by the aforementioned media outlet, it could be a case of necrophilia due to the similarities with a previous murder, which was carried out by hanging or strangulation of the victim.
Necrophilia is defined as the sexual behavior of a person engaging in sexual relations with human corpses.
The report from the gender observatories Alas Tensas and YoSíTeCreo in Cuba up to January 8 includes one femicide and one attempted femicide, which occurred on the first day of this month.
In addition, 12 other possible feminicides, four attempted feminicides, and one murder of a man for gender-related reasons that occurred in 2025 are under investigation.
A persistent reality: 48 femicides in 2025
The death of Magaly Aragón adds to a continuing and alarming pattern of gender-based violence in Cuba.
According to data collected by OGAT and YSTCC, at least 48 women were murdered due to gender-related reasons in 2025, in a context of total absence of official statistics and without specific laws to protect women at risk.
Among the most heartbreaking cases verified at the end of last year is that of Yuleidis Sánchez Rodríguez, a mother of three, who was attacked by her partner in the street on the night of December 31 in Santiago de Cuba.
Yuleidis died the following day due to the injuries sustained.
In that case, the aggressor had prior reports of gender-based violence, which again highlights, in the words of the observers, "the absence of prevention in the Cuban police."
In recent years, feminist observatories have repeatedly reported the legal and institutional void regarding femicides in Cuba.
Despite the fact that the new Penal Code references gender-based violence, there is no comprehensive law on gender-based violence, nor is there an independent classification for femicide.
There are also no shelters or immediate response protocols for women in situations of risk, leaving many victims at the mercy of their aggressors, even after having reported them.
Call to action and denunciation
The platforms have reiterated that reporting is not a crime, and they urge citizens to break the silence
"CITIZENSHIP, REPORTING THESE CRIMES IS NOT A CRIME. If you know of any cases of extreme gender violence, contact the YSTCC Feminicide Observatory."
The verification of the crime of Magaly Aragón as the first feminicide of the year comes at a time when Cuban civil society continues to face structural impunity, with the state response remaining evasive, opaque, and reactive.
Independent observatories have taken on a role that belongs to the State, collecting information, conducting research, supporting families, and raising their voices for those who are no longer here.
The murder of Magaly Aragón in a prison camp, following a sexual assault and within a state-controlled environment, symbolizes the extreme lack of protection that women face in Cuba, even in their workplaces.
Institutional negligence, the lack of specific laws, and the systematic invisibility of gender-based violence create a breeding ground for a tragedy that repeats itself with different names, but with identical patterns.
In 2026, Cuban society cannot afford to turn a blind eye. It is imperative that legislation is enacted, protections are put in place, and action is taken before new victims add to a list that should have ended decades ago.
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