Femicide in Güines: doctor killed by ex-partner, 47 victims in Cuba in 2026
A 55-year-old female doctor was murdered by her ex-partner in Güines, Mayabeque. With this crime, Cuba accumulates 47 confirmed femicides so far in 2026.
Doctor killed in Güines raises femicide count to 47 in Cuba in 2026
In the early morning hours of 23 August, Yanelkys Alonso Valdés, a 55-year-old specialist physician in obstetrics, was murdered by her ex-partner at her home in Güines, Mayabeque province. According to diariodecuba.com, the crime was documented by the Gender Observatory of the magazine Alas Tensas (OGAT) and brings the number of confirmed femicides in Cuba during 2026 to 47.
During the attack, Alonso Valdés's mother was also "seriously injured". The aggressor also wounded another family member of the victim, male, before harming himself. He did not succeed in taking his own life and was detained by authorities.
Alonso Valdés was the mother of an adult son who lives abroad, as verified by OGAT. The crime would be the second femicide recorded in Güines so far this summer: on 12 July, Yesneidy López Hernández, 39 years old, was murdered in broad daylight by her ex-partner.
Pattern of violence documented by OGAT
Alongside the 47 confirmed femicides in 2026, the observatory has recorded at least 20 attempted murders of this nature, as well as two murders of men on grounds of gender. The organisation is also calling for more information about the cases of Anais Tamayo Puente and Ana Vivian Suárez Cruz, which it has been investigating for weeks without receiving responses from authorities.
OGAT stated that it observes "as a possible feminicidal suicide the case of Bárbara Sánchez González" and reported that, from this case onwards, it "incorporates a new category of observation for monitoring possible cases of feminicidal suicide, of which more information is still needed and with a view to making visible in Cuba this typology of feminicidal violence, which is very difficult to corroborate".
The organisation is currently investigating 12 possible femicides from 2025, in addition to five attempted murders and the killing of a man on grounds of gender, all without available information owing to restrictions imposed by the regime. As regards 2026, OGAT is investigating 12 possible femicides and 14 attempted murders. Its message to the public remains: "Reporting these crimes is not a crime".
Official data acknowledge the scale of the problem
The Cuban Observatory on Gender Equality—an entity coordinated by the government-aligned Cuban Women's Federation, created in 2023—reported that in 2025 Cuban courts heard cases of 49 women aged 15 or older murdered by their partners, ex-partners or other persons on grounds of gender. The entity avoids using the term "femicide" to refer to these acts.
According to that data, Havana concentrated the largest number of cases, with 12, followed by Mayabeque, Camagüey and Holguín, with six each, and Santiago de Cuba, with five. 46.9% of the victims were murdered by their ex-partner, and in 89.7% of cases the crime occurred within the home. 75.5% of the murdered women had no employment. Additionally, 32 of the victims had minor children, leaving 54 children without maternal support.
"An alarming pattern"
Ileana Álvarez, director of OGAT, stated recently: "The violence in the recent cases confirms an alarming pattern. Women attacked in their homes, crimes committed during blackouts or in contexts of extreme precarity, attacks with bladed weapons, minors exposed to horror and entire communities attempting to make up for the absence of institutional protection".
Source: Google News CU — Crime