Maura Vázquez, a retired nurse with 43 years of experience, traveled hundreds of kilometers from Havana to Sancti Spíritus this week with a sign in hand and hope intact: to find her daughter Doraiky Águila Vázquez, who has been missing for 19 months without any response from Cuban authorities.
The trip was prompted by information shared on social media that placed Doraiky in the area of Cabaiguán, in the province of Sancti Spíritus. Upon arrival, Maura sought out Yureibys Torresilla, a community activist popularly known as "The Hero," who leads the solidarity project "Hermanos de la Calle" and enjoys a great deal of credibility in the region.
Torresilla posted an emotional video on Facebook announcing the visit of the lady and calling on the community to join the search.
"What wouldn't a mother do for her daughter? For a daughter who is missing. It's been 19 months since Doraiky has been missing," Torresilla expressed, visibly moved in front of the camera, with Maura by his side.
In another post, the activist wrote: "My God, look who came to find me, Doraiky's mother, desperate but with faith that her daughter will appear. This is very profound... I am both excited and sad."
A photograph of the meeting shows Maura in front of the José Martí Pérez Provincial Pediatric Teaching Hospital, holding a motorcycle helmet and a flyer with her daughter's picture. The poster includes several phone numbers and a plea: "If you see her, please hold her and call the following numbers, she is not aggressive."
The spirituan Zuyen Toledo went to meet the woman and urged the community to mobilize: "Maura is coming from Havana to our province with a heart full of anguish, but also with the hope of finding her daughter. Imagine the pain of a mother who has been without knowledge of her child for so long! Today, that mother needs us. Today, we cannot look the other way."
"According to the information shared, his daughter was seen in that area. Let’s not allow this search to go unnoticed," he emphasized on his Facebook account.
Doraiky, a resident of the Lawton neighborhood in the Diez de Octubre municipality, disappeared on the night of March 15, 2025 during a blackout in Havana. At that time, she was 48 years old. She was last seen on Calzada de 10 de Octubre, wearing a long yellow dress with red or pink flowers and black sandals with a red strap. She suffers from episodes of transient memory loss, which makes her especially vulnerable to disorientation.
Since then, Maura has not stopped. She travels daily through various municipalities in Cuba carrying signs and leaflets, without official support.
In November last year, she made a pilgrimage to the National Sanctuary of San Lázaro in El Rincón with a photo of her daughter. In April of this year, she dispelled a rumor suggesting that Doraiky was in Vedado: she went to the location and confirmed that her daughter "has not appeared."
The family filed a police report with registration number 19434 and is offering a reward of 350,000 Cuban pesos for reliable information regarding the whereabouts of Doraiky, who left behind two children aged 14 and 15 at the time of her disappearance.
In Cuba, there are no effective official mechanisms for finding missing persons, so families rely almost exclusively on citizen solidarity and social media.
Filed under: