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The Gender Observatory of Alas Tensas (OGAT) confirmed this Friday three new femicides in Cuba, raising the total number to 29 so far in 2026, which the organization describes as "a troubling rise in violence amid the country's profound humanitarian crisis."
Two of the three crimes occurred on the same day, last Tuesday, June 2nd. Adrianelys Nieves Castillo, 24 years old, was murdered during a blackout in a neighborhood of the city of Camagüey, allegedly by her ex-partner, who broke into her home.
The assailant is now in police custody. The victim leaves behind a minor child who witnessed the attack; her current partner was also injured.
That same night, in San Francisco de Paula, a neighborhood in San Miguel del Padrón, Havana, Estefany (Tita) García, aged 29, was murdered, allegedly by her ex-partner, who is already in prison and had a history of domestic violence.
Estefany leaves behind a baby just six months old. The OGAT noted that this case adds to a documented pattern in 2026 of mothers being murdered with infants only a few months old.
The third femicide involves Yanet Sánchez Espino, 48 years old, a resident of El Vedado, in Plaza de la Revolución, whose body was discovered on May 30 at Guanabo beach, in Havana del Este.
Alas Tensas identified "clear gender biases" in the events, although the case remains under investigation.
Precisely this Friday, another crime caused shock in El Vedado, where a neighbor was found dead in the early morning in the park at the corner of 23rd Street and Avenida Paseo.
The rate of femicides in 2026 is alarming: in just over five months, 29 crimes have been confirmed, compared to the 48 documented in all of 2025.
The organization also reports 19 attempted feminicides and one murder of a man for gender-related reasons so far this year, and is investigating 12 additional possible feminicides.
The most serious case of the year was the double femicide in Batabanó on April 22, when 31-year-old Rosalí Peña Hernández and her 12-year-old daughter Camila Aguilera Peña were murdered by Rosalí's partner.
Days later, the 26th femicide of the year was that of Osleidys Bonaga Corella, 41 years old, who was murdered in Gibara, Holguín, by her ex-partner with a bladed weapon.
The crisis is exacerbated by the lack of an adequate legal and institutional framework. The Cuban Penal Code, in effect since November 2022, does not classify femicide as an autonomous crime, but only as an aggravating factor of homicide.
Cuba lacks a comprehensive gender-based violence law, there are no shelters for women at risk, nor effective protection protocols, and the regime does not publish official statistics on these crimes.
The contrast with the official statements is striking. On April 25, the Cuban Foreign Ministry posted on X that in Cuba "there is no and will be no impunity for acts of gender-based violence," while 19 femicides had already been reported for the year.
Between 2019 and 2025, OGAT and the organization Yo Sí Te Creo en Cuba - which closed its observatory in April - documented a total of 315 femicides on the Island.
The Observatory reminds citizens that reporting these crimes is not an offense and urges those who are aware of cases of extreme violence against women and girls to contact the observatory at observatorio@alastensas.com.
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