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Yolexis Virgen Arias Oroceno, 54 years old, mother and grandmother, passed away in the early hours of July 5 at the Camagüey hospital, where she had been admitted since her partner attacked her with a knife on June 29, at the home they shared in the Modelo neighborhood of that city.
The Gender Observatory of Alas Tensas (OGAT), an independent feminist organization that monitors gender-based violence in Cuba, confirmed the case on Facebook.
The alleged perpetrator is 27 years old, according to sources close to the OGAT, and is already in police custody.
At least one of Yolexis's granddaughters witnessed the attack on her grandmother.
The victim leaves behind two adult daughters and several grandchildren.
This case brings the total number of femicides recorded on the Island to 39 for the year so far, according to data up to July 9.
The OGAT asked the public not to highlight the age difference between victim and perpetrator as a cause of the crime: "We urge the public to stop referring to the age differences between victim and perpetrator as a reason for femicide, and to stop using a painful story to give lessons about relationships with age disparities."
The figure of 39 femicides in just six and a half months of 2026 represents more than double the 18 documented cases in the same period of 2025, an increase of 112.5%.
The case of Yolexis comes just days after the femicide of Dayana Borges, a 26-year-old mother of two, who was killed by her partner on July 1 in Centro Habana, and two murders that shook Sancti Spíritus in the last week of June: those of Lidianni Luis González and Zarahelga Pardo López.
In the case of Lidianni, the OGAT reported the "negligent conduct of the Police," as the victim had previously reported her assailant without receiving protection.
The Cuban regime has not issued official information regarding the case of Yolexis, in a pattern that repeats systematically: the government does not publish statistics on femicides, and state media rarely cover these crimes.
Cuba lacks a comprehensive law against gender-based violence and does not have institutional shelters for at-risk women.
The current Penal Code does not classify feminicide as an autonomous crime; it only exists as an aggravating factor of homicide, and in 2022, the National Assembly rejected an amendment to include it.
According to data from OGAT, 83.3% of femicides in 2026 are committed by a partner or ex-partner, and 64.6% are carried out with a sharp weapon.
From 2019 to June 2026, Cuba has documented 350 femicides according to the independent observatories OGAT and Yo Sí Te Creo en Cuba, the latter of which was closed in April 2026 due to lack of resources, leaving OGAT as the only active observatory on the island.
The OGAT is also following the case of the teenager Anais Tamayo Puente, for which it seeks access to the investigation report to determine if her death constituted a femicide.
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