The leader Miguel Díaz-Canel accepted the resignation of Yelenys Tornet Menéndez as governor of the province of Las Tunas, according to an official statement published this Wednesday, just 24 hours after the announcement of the dismissal of the governor of Camagüey, Jorge Enrique Sutil Sarabia.
According to the note disseminated by the official newspaper Granma, the official requested her departure citing "family and personal limitations that she is experiencing, which prevent her from continuing in her position."
The Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz communicated the decision to the Provincial Council during an extraordinary session held in Las Tunas, where the delegates acknowledged, according to the statement, "his attitude and dedication since he assumed the responsibility as Governor."
Tornet Menéndez had been elected governor on December 8, 2024 with 98.58% of the votes from the delegates of the municipal assemblies of the People's Power, and took office on the 28th of that same month. Her term lasted only two years.
To temporarily replace her, Díaz-Canel appointed Juana Yamilka Viñals Suárez, who was previously the provincial vice governor, to assume the position until a new official is elected through the process established by law.
Viñals Suárez, a graduate in Physics and Electronics with a master's degree in Educational Sciences, was elected as the lieutenant governor in December 2024 with 97.48% of the votes and has been a member of the National Assembly since 2021.
During his brief term, Tornet Menéndez publicly acknowledged a series of serious issues in the province: more than 300 crimes reported in a single week at the beginning of 2025, garbage accumulation due to a shortage of trucks and workers, and ongoing difficulties in agricultural production and payments to farmers.
The official statement from the regime provides no details regarding the specific circumstances that led to the departure of Tornet Menéndez, beyond the generic phrase of "family and personal limitations," reflecting the same opacity that has characterized previous changes in leadership in that and other provinces.
The departure of Tornet Menéndez occurs less than 48 hours after Díaz-Canel also accepted the resignation of the governor of Camagüey, Jorge Enrique Sutil Sarabia, who acknowledged "mistakes made in the performance of his duties, incompatible with his responsibilities."
In that case, Vice Governor Yennis León Mayedo temporarily took office, following the same mechanism now applied in Las Tunas.
Two governors dismissed in just two days reinforce a pattern that has been repeating in several Cuban provinces since 2024: resignations presented as voluntary and official statements that do not detail the real reasons for the alleged resignations or dismissals.
Las Tunas is experiencing significant instability in the leadership of the governmental and party apparatus of the regime. In October 2024, Díaz-Canel dismissed the then governor Jaime Ernesto Chiang Vega —who acknowledged "errors" in his administration— and suspended the vice governor Ernesto Luis Cruz Reyes for "violations in the exercise of his responsibilities."
In March 2025, the first provincial secretary of the Communist Party, Walter Simón Noris, was dismissed without any public explanation of the reasons.
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