A 26-year-old man identified as Jesús Alberto Martínez Fernández reportedly lost his life during the early hours of Friday following a violent incident that occurred near the Galaxy Bar, also known as El Villar, in the city of Palma Soriano, located in the Santiago de Cuba province.
The information initially circulated through social media, stemming from posts by alleged family members, friends, and activists. Cuban authorities have not issued any official statement regarding the case.
According to testimonies collected by communicator Yosmany Mayeta Labrada on his platform Kuba x Dentro, the incident reportedly originated from a discussion among several young people that escalated into a physical confrontation, and Jesús Alberto attempted to mediate when he sustained a fatal stab wound.
The victim's mother, Denia Fernández Rey —former Dama de Blanco, director of FLAMUR in Santiago de Cuba, and coordinator of the Women's Network in the Eastern region— stated that the wound was directly to the heart.
Denia also reported serious material shortages during the emergency: there was no blood available in the hospital, there was no electricity, and there was no ambulance to address the situation.
The mother’s complaints do not stop there. According to Mayeta Labrada, Denia claimed to have faced difficulties in obtaining her son's body and stated that she had been threatened by police and State Security agents during the funeral process. These accusations have not been confirmed by independent sources.
Publications on social media have identified a man known as Wilfredo Vázquez, alias "Cueruso," as a suspected perpetrator, who according to these reports has already been located by authorities, although there is no official confirmation.
A cousin of the victim, identified as Osmay Quesada, posted on : "They killed an innocent good son, good neighbor, good friend. What cowardice."
The funeral took place on Friday and was well-attended: hundreds of residents from Palma Soriano accompanied the funeral procession in a long caravan of motorcycles in the rain.
Several civil society organizations reacted with messages of condolence and calls for justice. According to Alas Tensas, the Women's Network of Cuba identified Jesús Alberto as the leader of the opposition movement Impacto Juvenil and held the Cuban state directly responsible "for this incident and for the climate of insecurity that currently prevails in our streets."
The victim's father, Alberto Martínez, is identified as the director of the Republican Party of Cuba, which makes this family a prominent opposition nucleus in the eastern region.
FLAMUR described the incident as a "vile assassination" and called for measures to curb violence: "We cannot remain silent in the face of such barbarism. Crime and criminality are taking lives and sowing pain in Cuban families."
The case occurs just days after the femicide of a 23-year-old woman in the same municipality, reported on June 9, amidst a sustained increase in violence in Cuba, which the Cuban Observatory of Citizen Audit reported as 2,833 verified crimes in 2025, a 115% increase compared to 2024.
So far, the Cuban authorities have not provided any official details regarding the progress of the investigations or the status of the alleged suspect.
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