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Ernesto Ramírez Ramos, 23 years old, was murdered on May 1 in the municipality of San Luis, Santiago de Cuba, according to independent journalist Yosmany Mayeta Labrada on his page "Súbelo Mayeta".
The alleged perpetrator is Brayan Aguilera, identified by neighbors as a repeat offender in incidents of violence involving knives.
Those who knew Ernesto, born on August 31, 2002, described him as a quiet young man with no history of conflicts, well-liked in his neighborhood.
What makes this case a direct denunciation of impunity is the history of the alleged aggressor. In August 2025, Brayan Aguilera —then a minor— was stabbed inside the bar "Bajo 0" in San Luis and was urgently taken to the "La Colonia" Children's Hospital.
Mayeta Labrada covered that incident at the time, but the young man's father "preferred to mistreat us and then remain silent," as the journalist himself recounted.
Nine months later, that minor, who was injured at that time, is now the alleged murderer of a young man from the same municipality.
"That is not a coincidence. It is the result of years of impunity, of unaddressed violence, of institutions that turn a blind eye until they can no longer ignore the corpse," wrote Mayeta Labrada.
In the midst of sorrow, farewell messages have flooded social media. Friends and family remember Ernesto as a joyful young man, full of energy, passionate about his interests, and deeply loved. "You left us an impossible void to fill," wrote a close one. Another friend recalled him amidst laughter, daily conversations, and shared dreams that will no longer be realized.
A friend of Ernesto, Marcos Chong, posted a farewell letter in the Facebook group "Revolico, San Luis" that reveals a chilling detail: "It's unbelievable that the last thing you told me was to take care of myself, that there were boys aged 15 and 16 stabbing for no reason. And that they took you like that."
San Luis is not unfamiliar with these types of tragedies. In November 2024, the Peña Sablón family was murdered and their house set on fire in the Chamarreta neighborhood, in that same municipality, without any official statement being issued by the authorities.
In June 2025, a young man was stabbed to death during a mugging in Contramaestre, also in Santiago de Cuba, allegedly by three minors aged 17.
The pattern repeats across the island. According to the Cuban Citizen Audit Observatory, Cuba recorded an alarming increase in crimes in 2025: 1,319 crimes in the first half of the year, a 115% increase compared to 2024 and a 336% rise compared to 2023, with 63 homicides and an average of 7.3 crimes per day.
The user Julia Elena Jareno Varcárcel pointed directly to the repressive apparatus of the regime as part of the problem: "While murders, thefts, femicides, assaults, and violence in neighborhoods increase, State Security and much of the police apparatus seem to concentrate more resources on pursuing opponents, monitoring activists, and repressing those who think differently, rather than genuinely protecting the average citizen."
On the same day of the crime, newly released inmates in Santiago de Cuba were forced to parade under the threat of losing legal benefits, an image that illustrates the regime's true priorities.
In 2025, there were also 48 femicides documented across Cuba, according to the independent observatories Alas Tensas and Yo Sí Te Creo en Cuba.
Residents of San Luis are now wondering if impunity will prevail once again. "Will they use money, influence, and contacts to get Brayan out of this problem, just like they did with the previous one? Because that happens in Cuba. And everyone knows it," warned Mayeta Labrada.
"Ernesto is not coming back. But justice must arrive. And it must arrive now," concluded the journalist.
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