Violeta Rodríguez Denis, 63 years old and resident of Alacranes, Unión de Reyes municipality, Matanzas, has been missing for two months without any updates from the authorities regarding her whereabouts.
The Gender Observatory of Alas Tensas (OGAT), which has activated its #AlertaYeniset mechanism for the case, has once again published the photo of Violeta on Facebook, and asked anyone with information about her whereabouts to call the numbers 54882828 and 53121021, or to write to the email observatorio@alastensas.com.
According to local journalist Hanoi Moreno Enríquez, Violeta left her home on June 18 around 4:00 PM, heading to an area of woods to collect charcoal and never returned.
At the time of her disappearance, she was wearing a red blouse, gray shorts, and athletic shoes.
The case was reported to the police, although Cuba does not have an official protocol for searching for missing persons or a system of alerts comparable to the Amber Alert. The responsibility for the search falls entirely on the family, social media, and civil society.
The family warns that Violeta, although not diagnosed with a mental illness, "may at times exhibit some degree of disorientation, which makes them fear that she might have encountered some mishap or is lost and in need of help."
A Facebook user identified as Mara Álvarez described in June the situation of the woman's relatives: "Her family is experiencing moments of immense anguish and despair. With each passing minute, the concern grows for those who love her and hope for her safe return."
The case of Violeta illustrates a reality that is becoming increasingly common in Cuba: elderly people who have to venture into remote areas in search of charcoal or firewood for cooking, due to the shortage of liquefied gas and prolonged power outages.
A quarter of the Cuban population is over 60 years old, with pensions amounting to barely nine or ten dollars a month, and the massive exodus of young people has left thousands of elderly without family support networks. The Ministry of Labor and Social Security itself acknowledged in March that "there are no resources to care for vulnerable individuals."
The pattern of disappearances of elderly individuals without effective institutional response has recent and painful precedents.
In April of this year, an elderly man disappeared in Santiago de Cuba and was found dead by fishermen four days later.
In March 2024, the elderly Paulina Collazo Diago, who had dementia, was found deceased in Los Arabos, also in Matanzas, with the cause of her death yet to be determined.
The Alerta Yeniset - a citizen mechanism created by Yo Sí Te Creo en Cuba and OGAT following the disappearance of Yeniset Rojas Pérez in March 2022 - is the primary non-state tool for disseminating these cases.
In 2025, OGAT documented 37 disappearances of women, girls, and boys in Cuba: 26 were located alive, six alerts remained active, and five women were found dead.
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