Femicide in Ciego de Ávila: ex-partner kills Didiannys Barreto, leaving two daughters orphaned
Didiannys Barreto Palmero, 34, was murdered on 25 September in Ceballos by her ex-partner. She left two underage daughters; the attacker took his own life after the crime.
Killed on her mother's birthday in Ceballos, Ciego de Ávila
Didiannys Barreto Palmero, 34, was murdered on 25 September in the locality of Ceballos, municipality of Ciego de Ávila, allegedly at the hands of her ex-partner, Aliex Rosabales Báez, 43 years old. According to periodicocubano.com, the crime occurred after the woman decided to end the relationship and left two girls, aged approximately seven and three, orphaned.
Barreto's body was found around 9:00 pm on a farm in the area known as Ceballos 5. The victim had multiple stab wounds and a severe injury to her neck. After committing the crime, Rosabales Báez—who was not the father of the minors—took his own life.
The case was confirmed on Monday by the feminist observatory Alas Tensas, an organisation that documents cases of gender-based violence in Cuba. Testimonies compiled by independent journalist Niover Licea, of the platform NiO Reportando Un Crimen, and people close to the family indicated that the alleged attacker had a criminal record. The murder also occurred on the same day that the victim's mother was celebrating her birthday.
A work colleague expressed her grief on social media: "Rest in peace Didi, an excellent colleague. Your colleagues are deeply saddened by your loss, you worked at the Pedagogical School of Morón".
Possible underreporting in official statistics
Activists against gender-based violence warned that this case could be excluded from the records of Cuba's Observatory on Gender Equality (OCIG), an institution that mainly accounts for cases with open legal proceedings. When the perpetrator dies before going to trial, cases may not be included in official statistics.
Alas Tensas maintains an independent count and has recorded 54 femicides so far in 2026, along with 27 attempted murders for sexist motives. The organisation also documented 37 femicides during the first half of the year, compared with 18 counted in the same period of 2025, representing an increase of 112.5 per cent.
The OCIG reported that during 2025, 49 murders for gender-based reasons were tried, a figure which authorities compared with 76 cases in 2024 and 60 in 2023. Specialists cited by IPS Cuba have pointed out, however, that these figures may include incidents that occurred in previous years, given the pace of the judicial system.
No autonomous criminal figure for femicide
The murder of Didiannys occurred six days after the case of Yusinay Capetillo Martínez, 41, strangled by her ex-son-in-law during a power cut in the Havana neighbourhood of Santos Suárez.
Independent organisations question the fact that femicide does not appear as an autonomous crime in the Cuban Penal Code in force since 2022. Currently, these crimes can be prosecuted as homicide with aggravating circumstances, following the rejection by the National Assembly of a proposal to create a specific criminal offence. Feminist collectives point out that one of the most frequent patterns in Cuba is the murder of women by ex-partners following a separation, followed in some cases by the attacker's suicide.
Alas Tensas continues to verify other possible femicides awaiting confirmation, including the cases of Anais Tamayo Puente, Ana Vivian Suárez Cruz and Bárbara Sánchez González.
Source: Google News CU — Crime