The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) awarded recognition this Wednesday to the Cuban Women’s Federation (FMC) for its alleged work in promoting equality and protecting the rights of women and girls, as reported by the official channel of the Cuban regime, Canal Caribe.
The award was presented during the reopening of the National Counseling Center of the FMC, a space introduced as a tool to enhance comprehensive support for victims of gender-based violence in Cuba.
The event was attended by Teresa Amarelle Boué, member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of Cuba and general secretary of the FMC, which precisely illustrates the nature of the recognized organization: it is not an independent civil entity, but rather a transmission belt of the regime founded in 1960 and subordinate to the State.
The paradox of recognition is hard to ignore. The FMC itself admitted in August 2024 that more than 16,000 women and girls in Cuba face patriarchal violence, with nearly 10,000 families affected.
While the UNFPA recognizes the FMC, the independent feminist platforms Yo Sí Te Creo and Alas Tensas documented 48 verified femicides in Cuba during 2025, with 37 registered disappearances of women and 81% of the crimes committed by the victims' own partners.
In the first months of 2026, those same organizations had already recorded at least 21 femicides, and between 2019 and 2025, the total documented by OGAT and Yo Sí Te Creo amounts to 315 cases.
Femicides are not classified as a specific crime in the Cuban Penal Code, and there is no Comprehensive Law against Gender Violence on the island, a longstanding demand of the independent feminist movement that is also not included in the legislative agenda until 2028.
In March 2025, activist Carolina Barrero took the voice of Cuban women to the UN, denouncing the lack of recognition of femicide and the governmental repression against those who seek to bring it to light.
This episode is not isolated. In April 2026, Cuba was unanimously elected to the NGO Committee of ECOSOC —the UN body that oversees civil society— despite the fact that there are no recognized independent non-governmental organizations on the island, which led to formal protests from the United States and other countries.
Amarelle Boué, the same official who heads the FMC now awarded by the UN, stated in August 2022 that "the embargo is the greatest violence against Cuban women," a statement that encapsulates the organization’s political stance and its disconnect from the Cuban women facing real violence in their homes.
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