The mother of Maydeleisis Rosales Rodríguez, the teenager who went missing in Centro Habana on May 30, 2021, reported a possible femicide after a man close to her daughter's ex-partner confessed that the young woman may have been murdered, according to the gender observatory Alas Tensas.
On August 9, a man identified by the initial C. arrived at the home of Isis Rodríguez Ameneiro and revealed to her that the young woman had allegedly been murdered by her ex-boyfriend, identified as R., who had been threatening him to keep silent.
"C. —close to Maydeleisis' ex— made that confession to me and told me that he could no longer endure R.'s mistreatment towards him. He assured me that that man has threatened him, saying that if he confessed to the crime, something could happen to him as well," stated Isis Rodríguez Ameneiro.
After hearing the account, the mother went to the Zanja police station to file a report of the testimony and to identify R. as the alleged perpetrator of her daughter's death.
The police arrested both men, but they were released shortly after they denied any involvement.
"The police work has been terrible. I have reported on several occasions, and they say they will take action, but in reality, they don't do much. Following my statement, the police arrested both of them, but they were released shortly after," said Isis Rodríguez Ameneiro.
Due to the lack of progress, on August 28, the mother filed formal complaints with the Ministry of Justice and the Communist Party of Cuba, having received no response by the time of publication.
This pattern of inaction is not new: in March 2024, Isis Rodríguez Ameneiro had already publicly denounced that the individuals she considered the main suspects were still at large.
Maydeleisis was 16 years old when she disappeared in the area of Campanario and Malecón, near her home in Central Havana.
According to the latest sighting report, the young woman was talking to her ex-boyfriend when an older man abruptly took her by the arm.
The family reported the disappearance to the authorities and offered 5,000 pesos for information that could help locate her.
The case prompted the creation of the Mayde Alert, a citizen initiative promoted by feminist activist Marta María Ramírez to raise awareness about the disappearances of minors in Cuba, drawing inspiration from the Amber Alert in the United States.
The case occurs within a context of gender-based violence that independent organizations describe as alarming, given that the Cuban government does not publish official statistics on femicides or disappearances.
The Gender Observatory of Alas Tensas (OGAT) documented 52 femicides in Cuba as of September 14, 2026, already surpassing the total from 2025, when 48 cases were recorded.
Between January and August of this year, OGAT followed up on 22 people reported missing, of which eight were minors; four remained unaccounted for by the end of the period.
The observatory itself defines its monitoring as a "living record," because a case of disappearance can later be added to the femicide registry if the evidence allows it—precisely the scenario that Maydeleisis's mother fears will be confirmed by the confession received.
The number of documented femicides in Cuba from 2019 to July 2026 has reached 359, according to independent observatories, which represent the only systematic source of data amid the regime's official silence.
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