Two young Cuban women murdered by their ex-partners

SAN LUIS POTOSÍ, Mexico.- The magazine’s gender violence observatories Tense Wings (OGAT) and the YoSíTeCreo platform in Cuba reported this Wednesday two new sexist murders on the Island, which raise the number of femicides in 2024 to 25.

One of the victims, identified as Katia Ortiz, 25, was murdered on a public street by her ex-partner in the city of Las Tunas. She is survived by two minor children.

The event occurred on June 5. The victim’s ex-partner, as reported by feminist platforms, had a history of sexist violence against her.

The second victim is Cindy Samanthy González, 32, who tried to hide from her attacker, her ex-partner, at a friend’s house. However, the feminicide murdered her in that same place where she was hiding from him.

The events took place in the Barrio Obrero, San Miguel del Padrón, in Havana. In this other case, Cindy’s attacker also had a history of abuse with her and previous partners, but the authorities never imposed preventive measures.

In 2023, an alarming increase in femicides was recorded in Cuba, with 89 verified casesthe highest number since independent groups began collecting data in 2019. Statistics reveal that the victims are mostly women around 37 years old, living in rural areas, with at least one child, and murdered by their ex-partners.

Recently, the death of Cuban Aniuska Hernández Ginard, 38, was revealed, murdered at the beginning of June in her apartment located on Carrera Larga Street in the city of Guantánamo.

The alleged perpetrator of the crime is a neighbor of the victim, identified as Rafael Rivera Hechavarría, alias “El Niño”, who had already served prison for a previous murder and was a fugitive from justice.

According to the information, the crime occurred around 9:00 at night when Rivera Hechavarría broke into Hernández Ginard’s apartment and stabbed her 12 times with a mocha. The victim, who was the mother of three girls aged 20, 12 and 7, was at home with her youngest daughter at the time of the attack. The victim’s husband was not at home.

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