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Nurse Maribel Pupo dies in Cienfuegos after being assaulted over a child's vaccination
The nurse from the vaccination department of the Cumanayagua hospital died after four days in critical condition. The municipal health authority confirmed the death without mentioning the assault reported by independent journalists.
Maribel Pupo, a nurse in the vaccination department of the Aracelio Rodríguez teaching hospital in Cumanayagua, Cienfuegos, died after four days in critical condition from an assault she suffered on Thursday, October 29, when she asked the father of a child to bring the boy in for a vaccination. She was struck on the head and fell, according to reports by independent journalist Niover Licea, carried by 14ymedio, and by the citizen platform cited by Periódico Cubano.
The municipal health authority confirmed the death and offered condolences to Pupo's husband and daughters, but made no reference to the attack. The timing is disputed: Licea places the death between seven and eight on the night of Sunday, November 1, while the health authority says it happened on Monday. The nurse was first taken to a local facility and then to Cienfuegos, where she underwent surgery for three blood clots in the brain, according to the reports carried by Periódico Cubano.
There is no official information on the legal status of the alleged attacker. Licea reported that the man remained free while Pupo was hospitalized; citizen reports name a man whose identity authorities have not confirmed and about whom, according to Periódico Cubano, there is not enough public information to establish criminal responsibility. As of Monday it was also unclear whether anyone had been detained or what protection other health workers would be given.
In the comments under the post reporting the death, several health workers described the pressure they face to make families comply with childhood vaccination schedules. One nurse described "constant harassment" from supervisors and area chiefs over children whose shots were overdue, and another warned that a nurse can be "severely sanctioned for non-compliance" if she fails to get a patient vaccinated, 14ymedio reported.
Pupo's death follows other attacks on health workers in Cuba. 14ymedio recalls the killing of Neisa López, 29, in Bayamo in February 2023, and the death of a 58-year-old nurse at the hands of an inmate at a prison camp in Jatibonico, Sancti Spíritus, in January this year. Periódico Cubano also cites the killing of Liena de la Caridad Reinoso Ramos, a 23-year-old nurse, in Pinar del Río in November 2025.
Sources: 14ymedio · Cubanet · Periódico Cubano
Data updated: 2026-11-03T04:15:00.000Z