Femicide in Santos Suárez: ex-partner kills Cuban woman, 41, while she slept
Yusinay Capetillo Martínez was murdered with three stab wounds in her home in Havana. The attacker was the ex-partner of her daughter.
Woman, 41, murdered in her home in Havana's Santos Suárez neighbourhood
Yusinay Capetillo Martínez, 41, was killed in the early hours of Saturday, 19 September in Flores Street, between Zapote and Santa Emilia, in the Santos Suárez neighbourhood, Diez de Octubre municipality, Havana. According to reports from cubanet.org, the incident was initially reported by the La Tijera page as a femicide.
CubaNet confirmed the death with a relative of the victim. The attacker was the ex-partner of one of Capetillo Martínez's daughters and father of one of her granddaughters; he was no longer living in the dwelling at the time of the crime.
According to the relative's account, days before the murder the man had had a confrontation with his ex-partner—Yusinay's daughter—in which the victim intervened. The attacker was injured in that clash. He waited to recover and, around 1:00 in the morning on Saturday, returned to the house where he had lived and went directly to attack Capetillo Martínez, who was sleeping. The same source noted that the man was violent even with his own daughters.
The publication La Tijera indicated that the woman received three wounds from a bladed weapon that caused her death.
A crime amid a sustained increase in femicides in Cuba
The case occurs in a context of escalating feminicidal violence on the island. Between January and August 2026, the Gender Observatory of Alas Tensas (OGAT) documented 49 femicides, representing 15 more than in the same period in 2025 and an increase of 44.1 per cent. Of those cases, 38 were categorised as intimate femicides; 37 women were murdered by their partners or ex-partners, and 32 of the crimes occurred in private homes.
OGAT points to the shortcomings of existing protection mechanisms in Cuba. The country continues to lack a comprehensive specific law against violence towards women and girls, femicide is not classified as an autonomous crime in the legal system and there is no national network of shelters for women at risk.
Source: Google News CU — La Habana