The feminist platforms YoSíTeCreo (YSTCC) in Cuba and the Observatory of the Alas Tensas magazine reported a sexist murder in the province of Holguín, bringing the total to four femicides documented in the last week, although they occurred on different dates.
The latest victim of sexist violence is Arletty Reyes Batista, 24, who lived in a rural area of the Urbano Noris municipality (Holguín). The incident occurred on June 25, when the young woman left her house to go to the University, relates the note from Alas Tensas published on Facebook.
Reyes was studying engineering in agro-industrial processes at the university center of the municipality where she lived. She is survived by a 4-year-old daughter, and it is presumed that the one who attacked her was a neighbor of hers, adds the feminist platform.
This new complaint is added to those made by the activists who reported the case of Daniela Hernández Terrero this week, which happened at the hands of her ex-partner and father of her two children (who committed suicide after the murder) on June 25, in the neighborhood of Centro Habana.
They also documented the femicide of Tania González, on June 27, at the hands of her husband and in the presence of her daughter and her grandson in her home in the Diezmero neighborhood, in the Havana municipality of San Miguel del Padrón.
Another similar event, the case of the young Claudia Montes, who was missing for two weeks and was finally found dead in the Martí municipality, in the province of Matanzas, was confirmed by the activists as a “sexual femicide.” In their most recent publication they point out that “to date and just in 2022” their observatory “has registered 18 femicides.”
In addition, they recall that given the increase in these events of sexist violence in recent days, the independent platforms and observatories Yo Sí te Creo en Cuba, Red Femenina de Cuba, Alianza Cubana por la Institución and Alas Tensas, jointly launched an “urgent call” to the Cuban government to declare a “state of emergency due to gender-based violence.”
Likewise, they criticize that the new Cuban Penal Code does not delimit the different types of femicides.
The Penal Code approved by the National Assembly of People’s Power (unicameral Parliament) of Cuba on May 15 contemplates gender-based violence, but does not define the crime of femicide.
Draft Penal Code and gender-based violence in Cuba (II and last)
“When we speak of femicide violence, we make a call to face a problem that mainly affects women, but also children and even men, as evidenced in this case,” expressed Alas Tensas and YSTCC.
Both platforms that collaborate in the support and accompaniment of people in situations of sexist violence, affirmed that their reports of these cases are verified by their respective observatories. A report by Alas Tensas reported that at least 36 women died violently last year in Cuba, allegedly when they were assaulted by their romantic partners, and another 32 had a similar fate in 2020.
