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Authorities in Unión de Reyes, a municipality in the province of Matanzas, have arrested a young man accused of murdering another man, whom he stabbed during a public altercation, according to several sources.
The incident occurred on Soberanía Street, between Ignacio Agramonte and Frank País, in the center of the town, on an unspecified date. Both men had reportedly become embroiled in a discussion due to personal issues, which escalated and ended in a tragic outcome.
The Facebook page "Con Todos La Victoria", linked to the Ministry of the Interior (Minint), identified the assailant as José Luis Matos Lara, but did not disclose the name of the deceased.
A post from the independent profile Nio reporting a crime provided additional details about the identity of those involved and the circumstances surrounding the crime.
According to the information, not officially confirmed, the victim is named Yuliesvi Mato and is said to have gone to claim money that he was allegedly owed, which triggered the violent altercation that ended in tragedy.
The same source stated that the assailant, known as "Roki," during the altercation pulled out a sharp object with which he inflicted multiple wounds on the victim, causing death at the scene. According to this account of the incident, Matos voluntarily turned himself in to the authorities that same day.
The Minint's account of the events pointed to "old grievances and personal issues" between the two men as the trigger for the crime, but it made no mention of the alleged debt. The official source described how the attacker, the younger of the two, "did not hold back and drew a blade—a knife—directly to the chest," which caused the victim's immediate death. Additionally, it was reported that the attacker "is already on track in the corresponding legal process."
The victim's family and friends demand justice. The official note acknowledged the impact of the event on the community: "The story, which began as a personal dispute, ended with a criminal record, two grieving families, and a neighborhood that is still discussing the incident; the predominant feeling is one of loss of life, and the main demand is for an end to violence."
Another crime amidst the escalating violence in Cuba
The crime occurs in a context of sustained escalation of violence in Cuba. On March 15, two young men died in a knife fight in Jagüey Grande, also in the province of Matanzas. On March 30, three family members were murdered in Santa Clara; days later, the police arrested five individuals involved in the crime.
In February, a man was stabbed to death over a debt in Cienfuegos, while in Santiago de Cuba, three individuals were
Analysts and independent media report that Cuba is experiencing a new dimension of violence, associated with institutional deterioration, the economic crisis, and power outages that facilitate crime. The Cuban government does not publish official criminal statistics, making it difficult to accurately gauge the phenomenon.
The Cuban Observatory of Citizen Auditing (OCAC) -an independent organization- reported 2,833 verified crimes in Cuba during 2025, in a study that warned of the alarming rise in crime in the country.
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