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Gender-based violence in Cuba has escalated to a critical level in June, particularly in Sancti Spíritus, where two women were murdered by their ex-partners with just a week apart, raising the number of femicides in the country to 37 in 2026 so far, according to the updated record from the Gender Observatory of Alas Tensas (OGAT).
«Two new femicides in Cuba, with the highest alert in the province of Sancti Spíritus, where both irreparable and preventable losses are reported,» lamented OGAT in a statement released this Thursday.
The most recent case is that of Zarahelga Pardo López, 29 years old and known as Sarita, who was murdered on June 29 in the Carlos Roloff neighborhood of the city of Sancti Spíritus by her ex-partner and father of her children.
The attacker attempted to take his own life after the crime, inflicting a serious injury to his neck, and was taken to a hospital where he remains under police custody. According to information shared from the Nio page reporting a crime on Facebook, the femicide has been identified by several sources as José Luis Rivera, alias "El Loco."
Sarita left three minor children, who have been left in a "very painful" situation, highlighted the observatory, and recommended specialized care for the children.
The other victim is Lidianni Luis González, whose age has not yet been confirmed, who was murdered by her ex-partner on June 21 on the Central Highway, near the town of La Trinchera, while she was traveling from Guayos, where she lived.
His attacker, identified on social media as Davier Valdivia Santana, was a fugitive from justice at the time of the assault and caught up with her as she was trying to escape, delivering several fatal stab wounds before being apprehended.
OGAT highlighted a critical element in this case: Lidianni had previously reported her attacker to the authorities, which "demonstrates the negligent behavior of the police," who did not act to protect her despite the warning.
Lidianni left two minor children.
Both crimes occurred in Sancti Spíritus, the same province where the first confirmed femicide of the year in Cuba was recorded: on January 6, nurse Magaly Aragón Aragón, 59 years old, was found dead in a sugarcane field at the Las Mulas penitentiary camp in Jatibonico.
The figure of 37 femicides in six months represents more than double the cases registered in the same period of 2025, when 18 were documented. In the first semester of 2026, the observatory also confirmed 19 attempted femicides and two murders of men due to feminicide-related violence.
OGAT is investigating 12 potential feminicides, five attempts, and one murder of a man due to gender motives reported in 2025, as well as 10 potential feminicides and three attempts reported in 2026.
From 2019 to June 2026, that platform along with Yo Sí Te Creo en Cuba recorded 350 femicides on the island, with a historic peak of 90 cases in 2023.
The recurring pattern is intimate femicide. According to the OGAT report on 2025, 83.3% of the crimes were committed by partners or ex-partners, 64.6% with a knife, and 62.5% occurred in the home or the victim's immediate surroundings.
Cuba lacks a comprehensive law on gender-based violence, does not have institutional shelters for at-risk women, and does not publish official statistics on femicides. The crime is not classified independently in the current Penal Code, where it only appears as an aggravating factor of homicide.
After the closure of the Yo Sí Te Creo feminicide observatory in Cuba, OGAT remains the only independent organization documenting these crimes in Cuba in the face of the state's inaction and institutional void.
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