Havana/For several days, the disappearance of Amanda Kamila Pérez Casal, an 18-year-old university student, kept neighbors and relatives in Bayamo, Granma, in suspense. There was talk of a kidnapping, ransom messages and $2,000 demanded by his alleged captors. But the story took a turn: according to the Ministry of the Interior, there was no kidnapping. The young woman herself would have organized the deception with two other people to get money from her family.
According to an official note issued by the CNC TV Granma telecenter, Amanda, a first-year student of Agricultural Engineering at Campus II of Bayamo, confessed during the investigations that she had planned her disappearance with two other people involved. The authorities assure that the kidnapping never occurred and that those responsible are being prosecuted for simulation of a crime.
The young woman had disappeared between the night of October 29 and the early morning of October 30, when, according to the first information, she was traveling on a moped through Bayamo. The last references to her whereabouts placed her near the establishment known as Las 24 Horas. His absence sparked a search that quickly transcended social networks.
During the days of her disappearance, Amanda’s family would have received messages from the young woman’s phone demanding $2,000 for her release, according to the communicator Niover Licea. The first versions pointed to a kidnapping, but suspicions began to change direction when the Police carried out a search of a home in Bayamo.
On November 3, it was learned that Amanda had appeared alive and suspicions about a possible self-kidnapping gained strength.
During the operation, the agents would have found Amanda’s motorcycle, clothing, shoes, jewelry, a telephone and other personal belongings, as Licea published on Facebook. Among the occupied objects there were also some that appeared in an alleged video used to represent the kidnapping. These findings, which have not been officially detailed, fueled suspicions that the student herself may have participated in the deception.
Licea also picked up a version according to which the mother of Reinier Hernández, alias The Toothone of the alleged detainees, had seen Amanda in a house and argued with her before the police intervention.
On November 3, it was learned that Amanda had appeared alive and suspicions about a possible self-kidnapping gained strength. However, until this Sunday, no official explanation had been published to clarify what happened.
The official denial comes in a context of concern about crime in Cuba, although the authorities do not publish sufficiently complete and periodic statistics to evaluate the evolution of all crimes.
Among the comments published on the page of the Granma telecenter, numerous users demanded exemplary punishments against the student. Others took advantage of the news to demand equally forceful action in the face of violent events that, they claim, affect their communities.
The Law establishes for the simulation of a crime penalties of six months to one year of deprivation of liberty, fines of 100 to 300 installments or both sanctions.
“The people also ask that rigorous action be taken in the face of so many cases of robberies and murders that are occurring,” wrote Angelita Pizarro. “You need to get out and walk safely again,” he added, especially to protect children, the elderly and young people.
Other commentators worried about the damage the news could cause to Cuba’s international image. Abel Milan maintained that the alleged kidnapping had put the country “in question in the world,” while Guillermo Moreno Portelles stated that the initial information fueled “discredit propaganda” against the Ministry of the Interior.
Some users even asked for sentences of 20 and 30 years in prison for those involved. However, Article 201 of the Cuban Penal Codeapproved by Law 151 of 2022, establishes penalties of six months to one year of deprivation of liberty, fines of 100 to 300 installments, or both penalties for simulating a crime. For now, authorities have not announced other charges nor is there a known judicial decision in the case.
It would not be the first time that a false kidnapping for economic purposes has been investigated in Cuba. In May 2019, a young woman was investigated in Havana for allegedly faking her abduction to demand 2,000 euros from a Spanish businessman whom she had met in Mallorca. According to the information published then by Diario de Mallorcathe woman recognized that the kidnapping was an invention.
Amanda’s case occurs in a context of growing concern about insecurity in Cuba. According to a report of the Cuban Citizen Audit Observatory, during the first half of 2026, 90 murders were documented, 42.9% more than the 63 registered in the same period of the previous year. Fatalities increased from 69 to 102, an increase of 47.8%. Although the total number of documented crimes decreased, the organization warns that blackouts and internet connection difficulties have limited the possibility of learning about criminal acts.
