Marcos Cuevas Sánchez passed away early Sunday morning following a motorcycle accident in the Trocha area of the city of Santiago de Cuba.
The news was published by family and friends on Facebook. Aris Arias Batalla, head of operations and rescue at MINSAP in Santiago de Cuba, also confirmed the identity of the young man.
According to eyewitnesses mentioned in the reports, Marcos was riding his motorcycle without a helmet when another vehicle struck him.
He was accompanied by a young woman known as Roxana, also called "La China," who survived but remains hospitalized.
As if the crash weren't enough, someone took advantage of the chaos of the accident to steal their motorcycle and the rest of their belongings.
The young man left a baby orphaned and a family devastated by grief.
His cousin, Israel Alejandro Gámez Fonseca, expressed his sorrow on Facebook with heartbreaking words: "It is sad and painful to wake up to the news that you have left this world. You were and will always be more than a brother to me. May you rest in peace."
The death of Marcos also sparked a wave of citizen protests. Arias Batalla himself demanded answers from the authorities: "Once again, we wake up to the news of a young person deceased and several injured in a motorcycle accident on Trocha. This is not the first time, and unfortunately, if we do not take action, it will not be the last."
Arias Batalla pointed out that for months the residents of the area have been alerting MININT and the local government about the illegal street racing and speeding that turn that artery into a black spot for accidents, especially during the early hours of weekend mornings, without receiving an effective response.
"The Trocha and other main avenues are not speedways; they are roads where families, children, the elderly, and workers coexist. Every weekend, we play Russian roulette," he wrote.
In his post, the rescuer does not call for a ban on recreation, but rather for concrete measures: a deterrent police presence during high-risk hours, speed controls, educational campaigns, and penalties for those who organize illegal races on avenues such as Trocha, Carrera del Morro, Ferreiro, and Garzón.
So far, it has not been possible to independently confirm whether the young man who died was participating in any motorcycle race.
In January, Félix Yoan Pozo Leyva, 28 years old, died on Trocha Street in a collision between two motorcycles.
Leandry Osorio fell into a coma after an accident on the Ciudamar highway, in early August, and a week later Lonier Chacón Zamora was seriously injured in El Cobre.
The national outlook is equally alarming: in 2025, Cuba recorded 7,538 traffic accidents resulting in 750 fatalities, compared to 634 deaths in 2024. Motorcycles and mopeds were involved in 63% of the incidents, accounting for 32% of the deaths and 42% of the injuries.
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