A 55-year-old obstetrician was murdered early Sunday morning in Güines, Mayabeque, a crime that the Gender Observatory of Alas Tensas (OGAT) recorded on Monday as the 47th femicide in Cuba this year.
The victim, Yanelkys Alonso Valdés, was assaulted in her own home by her former partner.
In the same attack, Yanelkys' mother—an elderly woman over 75 years old—was seriously injured, as was a male relative who tried to intervene to protect both women.
The alleged perpetrator, who inflicted self-harm after the crime, has been apprehended by the authorities.
The doctor had an adult son who lives abroad. Her colleagues and patients mourn the loss of the physician, according to OGAT.
Güines has already recorded three feminicides this year: in April, Mariolis López Silio, 37 years old and mother of four, was killed, and in July, Yesneidy López Hernández was murdered by her ex-partner in the street.
The case of Yanelkys reflects the most common pattern documented by OGAT: the aggressor is an ex-partner, and the attack occurs within the victim's home.
According to the data collected by the observatory, 83.3% of femicides in Cuba are committed by partners or ex-partners, 64.6% are carried out with a sharp weapon, and 62.5% occur in the woman's own home.
The escalation in 2026 is sustained and alarming: OGAT recorded 13 femicides by the end of the first quarter, 30 at the beginning of June, 40 by mid-July, and 46 at the beginning of August.
In addition to the 47 confirmed cases, the Observatory is investigating 12 possible femicides and 14 additional attempts reported in 2026 that have yet to be verified.
In this report, OGAT also introduced a new monitoring category for potential cases of femicide suicide, highlighting the case of Bárbara Sánchez González as one to be investigated under this classification, which the observatory itself describes as "very difficult to corroborate."
The Cuban regime does not have a comprehensive law against gender-based violence, and the 2022 Penal Code does not classify femicide as an autonomous crime, but only as an aggravating factor in homicide.
The National Assembly rejected an amendment to include it as an independent criminal offense, an omission that human rights organizations denounce as a sign of the structural impunity surrounding these crimes.
The official report from the Cuban government published this month indicates that in 2025, 49 cases of women murdered for gender-related reasons were judged, compared to 76 in 2024. However, this figure pertains to judicial proceedings held, not necessarily to events that occurred that year, which hinders a direct comparison with independent records.
OGAT and the organization Yo Sí Te Creo in Cuba - which announced its closure last April - documented 48 femicides in 2025 and reported 359 verified cases since 2019, a figure that both organizations consider to be an underreporting since the State does not publish complete or accessible statistics on gender-based violence.
The Observatory reminds the public that "reporting these crimes is not a crime" and keeps anonymous channels open to receive alerts about possible cases.
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