Related videos:
Yunierkis Gómez Lozano, known as Yunita, 43 years old and mother of two teenage children, lost her life on Thursday in Cumanayagua, Cienfuegos province, after falling from a rooftop during a struggle with her partner, who later took his own life. The case was publicly reported on Sunday by the Observatorio de Género de Alas Tensas (OGAT), which marks it as the 40th femicide in Cuba so far in 2026.
According to the report by Alas Tensas, the OGAT verified with community sources the history of violence within the couple, which confirms the femicide context surrounding Yunierkis' death. The perpetrator was also the father of their two children: a girl and a boy, both of whom are teenagers.
The organization expressed its condolences to the minors, their families, and the community of Cumanayagua, and emphasized that the tragedy occurs "amid the brutal situation in the country."
The case raises the number of confirmed femicides to 40 in Cuba from January to this Sunday, a figure that more than doubles the 18 recorded during the same period in 2025, representing an increase of 112.5%. The OGAT also reports 19 attempted femicides and two murders of men due to feminicide-related violence so far this year.
The two feminicides that preceded this one also shook the island in the early days of July: that of Dayana Borges, 26 years old and a mother of two, murdered on July 1 in Centro Habana, and that of Yolexis Virgen Arias Oroceno, 54 years old, who died the same Thursday in Camagüey.
Cienfuegos had already recorded another femicide in 2026: that of Yurelis Puente Naranjo, 44 years old, murdered on May 8 in Juraguá by her ex-husband, which was the 22nd case of the year.
The pattern revealed by the OGAT data is consistent: 83.3% of femicides in Cuba are committed by partners or former partners, 62.5% occur in the victim's home, and 64.6% are carried out with sharp objects. From 2019 until June 2026, independent observatories have documented 350 femicides on the island, with a historic peak of 90 cases in 2023.
The Cuban regime does not publish official statistics on gender-based violence or femicides, which means that independent citizen monitoring is the only available source of data. OGAT is also the only active observatory on the island since April 2026, following the closure of Yo Sí Te Creo en Cuba due to lack of resources.
The organization also reported that it is investigating 12 possible femicides and three alerted attempts in 2026 that have not yet been confirmed, and it called for access to the investigative report on the case of Anais Tamayo Puente. Their message concludes with a warning that underscores the magnitude of the crisis: "They are killing us."
Filed under: