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Alas Tensas confirms the femicide of Yudiley Rodríguez in Gibara, number 58 in its 2026 count
The independent platform Alas Tensas confirmed the killing of Yudiley Rodríguez Enríquez, 37, on October 20 in the Margodo neighborhood of Gibara, Holguín, by a neighbor and in front of two girls. Its observatory counts it as the 2026 femicide number 58; the tally kept by 14ymedio, with stricter criteria, reaches 54.
Rodríguez Enríquez, known as Mimí, was attacked with several knives on the afternoon of Tuesday, October 20, in her own home and bled to death, according to the report by the Alas Tensas Gender Observatory, sourced to the victim's relatives. Her father was wounded in the attack and is out of danger. The observatory identified the alleged attacker as a neighbor, Iram García, with no partner or family tie to her, and for that reason classified the case as a "social femicide."
The crime took place in front of two girls, one of them the victim's daughter. Rodríguez Enríquez's daughter-in-law managed to get them out of the house and call for help. Alas Tensas called for specialized psychological care and emotional support for the two minors. The victim worked as a clerk at a ration store and was the mother of four children, aged 18, 15, 13 and four.
According to the family testimony gathered by the observatory, the woman had repeatedly rejected the attacker's harassment of another woman in the family, who according to Martí Noticias, cited by 14ymedio, is her daughter-in-law. The case had been reported two days earlier by Niover Licea, a communicator based in the United States, before the platform confirmed it. Cubanet also reported the killing and described the victim as a mother of four allegedly attacked by a neighbor.
As of October 21, the Alas Tensas Observatory had counted 58 femicides, 32 attempted femicides and two killings of men in contexts of femicidal violence in 2026. The separate tally kept by 14ymedio, which does not treat as gender-based the killings that occur in robberies or other chance circumstances, rises with this case to 54. In 2025, the platform recorded 48 femicides and 14ymedio 42. The observatory is also investigating 11 possible femicides and 11 attempts flagged this year, plus another 12 possible cases from 2025.
Cuba does not define femicide as a crime in its Penal Code and state media report these cases only exceptionally. The authorities said courts identified 49 women over the age of 15 killed for gender-based reasons in judicial proceedings held during 2025, compared with 76 proceedings closed in 2024 and 60 in 2023. Specialists consulted by IPS Cuba warn that this figure is not equivalent to the deaths that occurred that year: most of the cases tried in 2025 correspond to events from 2023 and 2024.
Alas Tensas repeated its demand that the Cuban government publish systematic official statistics, make femicide a specific crime, activate protection protocols, open shelters for women at risk and guarantee effective emergency hotlines. The victim's family publicly asked for respect: "My cousin is not a news story for winning followers," wrote a relative, Madelin Morales, quoted by 14ymedio, in remarks translated by Yamacoa.
Sources: 14ymedio · Infobae · Cubanet
Data updated: 2026-10-22T17:15:00.000Z