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Yurelis Puente Naranjo, 44 years old, was murdered last Thursday in her own home in the municipality of Abreus, in Cienfuegos, allegedly by her ex-husband, according to the Alas Tensas Gender Observatory (OGAT).
The attacker assaulted Yurelis inside her home in the city of Juraguá and subsequently turned himself in to the police, according to checks conducted by the independent NGO with community sources.
The victim left at least one underage daughter. The observatory requested assistance from the public to gather information about other surviving children and any potential history of violence prior to the crime.
This case brings the confirmed femicides in Cuba to 22 in 2026 so far, according to the OGAT record up to May 10.
In that same period, the organization recorded 17 attempts of femicide and one murder of a man due to gender motives. Additionally, it raised an alert about the case of the adolescent Anais Tamayo Puente, who died under unclear circumstances, for which access to the investigation report is needed.
Meanwhile, the investigation continues into 12 possible feminicides, five attempts, and one murder of a man for gender-related motives reported in 2025, along with six other potential feminicides reported this year.
In its statement, the OGAT warned about "the persistence of extreme violence against women in Cuba, especially in the context of relationships and former partners, where femicides continue to occur with high levels of brutality."
It also warned about the "traumatic impact on girls, boys, families, and communities in a context marked by institutional precariousness, silence, and a lack of effective protection for victims."
The case of Yurelis reflects the most common pattern documented by the OGAT: murdered by her ex-partner, in her home, leaving underage children behind. The annual report data from the observatory indicates that 83.3% of feminicides in Cuba are committed by a partner or ex-partner, 62.5% occur in the home, and 64.6% are carried out with sharp weapons.
The rate of femicides in 2026 is alarming: six cases in January, one in February, six in March, at least seven in April —the most violent month of the year— and at least two in May.
The 21st femicide recorded by the OGAT was that of Gloria Almanza Céspedes, a 52-year-old teacher, who was murdered on May 1 by her ex-partner in San Miguel del Padrón, Havana. She had previously reported the assailant to the police, but the authorities did not provide her with effective protection.
In April, a double feminicide in Batabanó, Mayabeque took the lives of Rosalí Peña Hernández, 31, and her daughter Camila Aguilera Peña, just 12 years old, both murdered by Rosalí's partner.
The response of the Cuban government to the increasing violence against women is virtually nonexistent. The Penal Code, in effect since 2022, does not classify femicide as an autonomous crime; cases are processed under generic categories such as homicide. Cuba also lacks a comprehensive law on gender-based violence, despite repeated demands from activists.
In the country, there are no shelters or effective protection protocols for women at risk.
In April, the platform Yo Sí Te Creo en Cuba (YSTCC) closed its femicide observatory due to a lack of resources, leaving OGAT as the only independent reference for the systematic monitoring of these crimes on the island.
From 2019 to December 2025, OGAT and YSTCC documented a total of 315 femicides in Cuba, in the absence of transparent official statistics from the regime.
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