Havana/The independent observatories Alas Tensas and Yo Sí Te Creo in Cuba confirmed this week two new femicides that occurred on the same day, April 7, in the provinces of Las Tunas and Pinar del Río.
According to the published statement According to the organizations, one of the victims is Maylén Fernández Soriano, 26 years old, murdered by her partner in their home in the town of San Juan, in the Jesús Menéndez municipality, in Las Tunas. The director of Alas Tensas, Ileana Álvarez, declared to Martí News that the young woman died of acute anemia after being stabbed.
“Still alive and in the face of extreme precariousness, Maylén was taken to the hospital in an ox cart and died before arriving,” explained Álvarez. The crime occurred in the presence of the couple’s common child, an element that aggravates the impact of violence, according to both gender observatories.
Still alive and faced with extreme precariousness, Maylén was taken to the hospital in an ox cart and died before arriving.
That same day, in the Las Maravillas community, in San Juan y Martínez, Pinar del Río, Yarisleidis Saavedra Hernández, also 26 years old, was murdered by her father, who later committed suicide. The young woman was trying to protect her mother from male aggression.
The cause of death was hypovolemic shock and the case has been classified as family feminicide, a less frequent typology than intimate feminicide, but which – according to Alas Tensas – shows that gender violence is not limited to couple relationships and can happen within the family environment itself.
“We deeply regret these femicides verified in Cuba and we express our condolences to the families and communities affected by this extreme violence,” Álvarez said.
Alas Tensas also warned about the appearance of femicides with unusual characteristics, which could be related to the “complex and perpetual humanitarian crisis” that Cuba is going through. Independent entities link this phenomenon to the collapse of basic services and the lack of effective prevention and protection policies for women.
The observatory points out that the lack of official statistics and effective institutional mechanisms leaves victims in a situation of greater vulnerability
With these cases, so far in 2026Alas Tensas has recorded 15 femicides, 8 attempted feminicides and one murder of a man for reasons of gender, and has another 7 possible cases under investigation. Since last year 2025, the agency continues to investigate 11 alerts of possible femicides, 4 attempted femicides and another murder of a man for gender reasons.
The observatory points out that the lack of official statistics and effective institutional mechanisms leaves victims in a situation of greater vulnerability. They reiterate their call to citizens to provide information that allows the cases to be verified, a process that has become increasingly difficult due to the deterioration of communications and prolonged blackouts in the country.
