The Gender Observatory of Alas Tensas (OGAT) confirmed this Friday the femicide of Idania Castillo Sacre, 58 years old, which occurred on September 26 in Taco Taco, municipality of San Cristóbal, province of Artemisa, at the hands of her ex-partner, a man who had already been convicted of murdering another woman.
According to the OGAT research, Idania was approached in a public area while preaching as a Jehovah's Witness.
The attacker led her to a house where the crime was committed, then attempted to take his own life but was unsuccessful and was subsequently arrested.
What sets this case apart is the background of the alleged perpetrator: he had served a sentence for murdering the mother of his children in 2010.
According to the complaint filed by Niover Licea collected by the Observatory, the man received a sentence of 31 years in prison, but was released after serving approximately 15.
Idania leaves behind three daughters and a son, all of whom are adults and have no legal affiliation with the aggressor, as well as grandchildren and other relatives.
With this case, OGAT raises the total number of verified feminicides in Cuba to 56 for 2026, as of this Friday, along with 27 attempted feminicides and two murders of men in the context of feminicide-related violence.
This is not the first time that the Observatory has documented a crime of this nature committed by a repeat offender on probation.
In June 2024, Jessica Castillo, 32 years old, was murdered in Pinar del Río by a man who had served only seven years of a 20-year sentence for the femicide of a teenager in 2011.
The case of Idania arises just days after two other documented femicides in September: that of Rachel García González, 27 years old, mother of four girls, who was murdered on September 28 in Vertientes, Camagüey — the 55th case — and that of Diddianys Barreto Palmero, 34 years old, who was killed on September 25 in Ciego de Ávila.
The figure of 56 femicides so far this year has already surpassed the total for all of 2025, when OGAT recorded 49 cases, and is equal to the complete record of 2024.
The year with the highest number of documented crimes by the Observatory was 2023, with 90 cases.
The violence pattern in 2026 shows that approximately 83.3% of feminicides are perpetrated by a partner or ex-partner, 64.6% involve a knife, and 62.5% occur in the home or the immediate surroundings of the victim, according to data collected by Infobae.
Cuba reached 50 verified femicides in the early days of September, already surpassing the total for the entire previous year, which demonstrates a sustained acceleration throughout 2026.
The Cuban Penal Code of 2022 does not classify femicide as an autonomous crime, but rather as an aggravated circumstance of murder, and the country lacks a comprehensive law against gender violence and a national network of shelters for women at risk.
OGAT insists that "preventing new femicides requires a comprehensive law against violence towards women and girls, a national network of shelters, and effective protection measures for women in precarious situations," as well as specialized psychological evaluations and assessments of the risk of recidivism before granting parole to offenders with a history of violence.
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