The Cuban Observatory of Citizen Auditing (OCAC) reported that murders in Cuba increased from 63 to 90 between January and June, marking a 42.9% rise compared to the same period in 2025, while fatalities rose from 69 to 102, a 47.8% increase.
On September 22, the independent entity published the Public Safety Report for the first half of 2026. The text warns that there was a 25.3% drop in the total number of documented crimes. There were 1,319 in the first half of 2025, while 985 were reported in the same period of 2026. However, this figure alone does not reflect a real improvement in the country.
"This figure would be an achievement, but this decrease is not reliable due to the extreme limitations in reporting from Cuba during that period. It does not mean that Cuba is a safer country today," notes the OCAC.
According to the OCAC, prolonged blackouts and the degradation of the information ecosystem prevent many events from becoming public and being documented.
The most revealing data from the report is the case fatality rate. In the first half of 2025, there were 5.23 deaths for every 100 reported crimes. In the same period of 2026, that figure reached 10.35.
"In just one year, the lethality of documented crime increased by 97.9%: it practically doubled," concludes the OCAC.
Violence also intensified within the semester itself. Murders increased from 36 in the first quarter to 54 in the second, a jump of 50%.
April, May, and June recorded 19, 17, and 18 murders, respectively. Each of those months exceeded the monthly maximum for the entire first half of 2025, which had been 13 in March.
The trend did not stop at the end of June. Cubalex documented 37 homicides in July and 52 in August, the latter being the highest monthly record since the organization began its monitoring in 2024.
The most vulnerable groups have seen the most severe increases. The number of deceased women rose from 24 to 37 (+54.2%), the elderly from six to nine (+50%), and the minors increased from three to eight fatalities, the most significant proportional rise among all the groups analyzed: 166.7%.
The feminicides documented by the Gender Observatory Alas Tensas (OGAT) surged from 16 to 37, more than double, and as of September 14, the annual total had already exceeded 52 feminicides, surpassing the 49 recorded for the entire year of 2025.
Matanzas emerges as the epicenter of violence. For the first time, it tops the provincial ranking for the number of murders, with 18 cases. It also leads in assaults, with 21. Together with Granma, it accounts for 50.8% of all documented robberies in the country: 301 out of the 592 recorded.
Another concerning phenomenon is the theft from the electrical system. More than 460 criminal investigations were opened between 2025 and the first half of 2026, over 300 of which were for the theft of dielectric oil from transformers, a crime that directly worsens blackouts and leaves entire communities without electricity for weeks.
The OCAC emphasizes that its statistics represent an underreporting, as they only capture incidents that become public. The paradox of the report can be summarized with a single comparison: "Although 334 fewer crimes were documented in 2026 compared to the same period in 2025, there were 33 more fatalities."
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