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The murders of a 14-year-old girl and a 62-year-old woman the previous week raised the number of femicide victims in Cuba to 11 in 2026, confirmed independent Cuban platforms on Wednesday.
The gender observatories of the magazine Alas Tensas (OGAT) and Yo Sí Te Creo en Cuba (YSTCC) verified both acts of extreme violence committed against "the most vulnerable segments, which are adolescents and older adults," they emphasized.
According to the statement shared on social media, the deceased minor was identified as Katherine Cruz Aguilera and “died violently allegedly at the hands of her ex-stepfather” on March 14, in her own home, in the La Caldosa neighborhood, in El Cornito, city of Las Tunas.
The statement did not provide further details about the circumstances surrounding the crime, which has shaken the community. The platforms expressed their condolences to the girl's mother and the rest of her family.
The murder of Santa Durán Hurtado, 62, at the hands of her grandson, was also confirmed on March 13 or 14, at the home of a close relative. The information did not specify the location where the incident took place.
The crime is classified as "familial feminicide," the observers noted, while warning that it is "an uncommon form of feminicidal violence."
The platforms reiterated the situation faced by certain segments of the population, such as children, adolescents, and older adults, "in the current context of humanitarian crisis in Cuba, which is also evidenced by the increase in femicides."
According to the underreporting records kept by OGAT and YSTCC, from the beginning of the year until March 18, there have been 11 reported femicides, seven attempted femicides, and the murder of a man for gender-related reasons.
The observatories continue to investigate 11 possible femicides, four attempts, and one murder of a man on gender-related grounds reported in 2025, as well as five possible femicides reported this year.
In 2025, gender-based violence claimed the lives of at least 48 women in Cuba, according to the counts by OGAT and YSTCC, which only represent an underreporting of the actual figures of femicides in the country, as the Cuban state continues “to not publish complete, disaggregated, and transparent statistics” regarding these cases.
In recent years, both platforms have repeatedly denounced the legal and institutional vacuum regarding femicides on the island.
In Cuba, there is no comprehensive law on gender-based violence, and although the Penal Code references machista violence, it does not include an independent classification of femicide as a crime. There are also no shelters or accessible protection protocols for women and girls at risk.
Such shortcomings in the system "leave thousands of women exposed to known aggressors—partners, ex-partners, neighbors, family members—and enable impunity," they have insisted, agreeing that the Cuban regime's response to the rising violence against women is inadequate.
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