His family says he was found dead in Altahabana while working as a bicycle-taxi driver; the motive for the crime is currently unknown.
14ymedio, Havana, August 16, 2026 – Cuban opposition activist Diosbel Véliz Marín was stabbed to death in Havana on Saturday, according to several activists who denounced the killing Sunday and called on authorities to investigate the circumstances of his death.
Véliz Marín, a member of the Movement of Opponents for a New Republic (MONR) and also linked to the Democracy Movement, the Cuban Resistance Assembly and the Cuba Decide initiative, worked as a bicycle-taxi driver in the Altahabana neighborhood, in the municipality of Boyeros.
José Díaz Silva, president of MONR, reported on his Facebook profile that the opposition activist’s wife informed him of the news at around four in the morning Sunday. According to the account received by the family, Véliz Marín died during the night Saturday after being stabbed twice.
Shortly beforehand, according to the account shared by Díaz Silva, a woman had asked the bicycle-taxi driver to take her to the National Hospital. Later, the opposition activist’s body was found in front of a bank branch in the same neighborhood.
“There is a possibility that he was the victim of a robbery, but this must be clarified through a serious and transparent investigation”
So far, the exact circumstances of the incident are unknown, and there is no official information about possible suspects. “There is a possibility that he was the victim of a robbery, but this must be clarified through a serious and transparent investigation,” Díaz Silva said in his denunciation.
According to Díaz Silva, his opposition activities dated back more than two decades, and he had been linked since 2002 to groups calling for democratic changes and the release of political prisoners.
His name also appears in numerous documented episodes of repression in recent years. In April 2017, he was arrested along with other MONR activists when the group was promoting independent candidates for municipal elections. The opposition activists remained for several hours in police facilities before being released.
In September 2020, Véliz Marín was arrested again. A report by the Cuban Foundation for Human Rights states that he was detained on the 4th of that month and fined 2,000 pesos before being released. At the time, several members of MONR and the Patriotic Union of Cuba were subjected to arrests, surveillance and fines to prevent their participation in the so-called Sunflower Revolution.
Journalist Boris González Arenas mourned his death Sunday and remembered Véliz Marín as a “hero of democracy”
Months later, in January 2021, the deadliest year of the Covid-19 pandemic on the island, another human rights report documented that Véliz Marín had been summoned by police in Altahabana, accused of “spreading an epidemic,” and subjected to the precautionary measure of reporting twice a week to a police station while awaiting trial.
He is also listed as a member of MONR and the #Otro18 platform among the signatories of an open letter from Cuban civil society organizations addressed to international bodies in 2020.
On his Facebook profile, Véliz Marín identified himself as a self-employed worker and a resident of Altahabana.
Journalist Boris González Arenas mourned his death Sunday and remembered Véliz Marín as a “hero of democracy,” while Ramón Saúl Sánchez, president of the Democracy Movement, described him as “a young, hardworking and decent man and a citizen of conscience who deeply loved his homeland.” Sánchez also called for an investigation and clarification of the case.
Díaz Silva, for his part, remembered his fellow activist as a “noble, hardworking, brave and patriotic” man and conveyed his condolences to his wife and the rest of the family.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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