Three men brutally attacked Mailenis Blanco Amor after waiting for her to be alone in her home.
14ymedio, Havana, 12 August 2025 — Mailenis Blanco Amor, 47 years old, was killed on August 4 at her home in Puerta de Golpe, Consolación del Sur, in Pinar del Río, by three strangers who disguised themselves as police officers to break in to steal. The news, which spread, as is usual in these cases, through social networks, was confirmed this Tuesday by the independent observatories Alas Tensas and Yo Sí Te Creo in Cuba.
The three men brutally attacked the woman, the platforms said, counting this crime as a femicide. “Although some murders of women during robberies are not classified as femicides, in this case the gender bias is evident, because the aggressors waited for Blanco to be alone and exercised excessive violence on her,” they explained in their publication.
“Although some murders of women during robberies are not classified as femicides, in this case gender bias is evident.”
According to the Facebook page Reporte Cuba Ya, two of the alleged aggressors were arrested. These are Reinier Raúl Pelegrín Izaguirre, with a record for “robbery, corruption of minors and violation of domicile,” and Ernesto José, alias El Maja, who “would have used a police uniform stolen from his brother to commit the act.” The third suspect, Miguel Ángel Reve Tamayo, a former inmate with a history of prison disorder, remains at large.
On August 5, 56-year-old Milagros Batista Estévez was murdered by her former partner in her home in the Alex Urquiola neighborhood in Holguín. According to feminist organizations, the victim had previously filed several complaints against the aggressor with the police, but these did not result in effective protection measures. Batista leaves behind two adult children and several grandchildren, as well as a community affected by the violence of the event and the inaction of the authorities.
The Government does not publish disaggregated statistics on this type of violence nor has it criminalized femicide in the Penal Code.
The verification of these cases was based on reports in independent media, citizen complaints and reports by activists, contrasted with community sources. This methodology seeks to compensate for the lack of official data on femicides on the island, where the Government does not publish disaggregated statistics on this type of violence and has not classified femicide as an autonomous criminal offense in the Penal Code.
Feminist organizations have repeatedly warned that formal complaints do not guarantee the safety of women, as there are no clear risk assessment protocols or shelter systems to escape an aggressor.
According to the ’14ymedio’ register, so far this year 22 women have been killed.
The independent observatories Alas Tensas and Yo Sí Te Creo counted 54 cases during 2024. The Government, for its part, acknowledged that 76 women who were murdered by their partners, ex-partners or other persons in judicial proceedings held last year were tried in the courts, although they did not use the term femicide or detail the exact dates of the crimes.
According to the register kept by 14ymedio, so far this year there have been 22 women murdered. In 2024, this newspaper counted 52 murders from machista violence from independent records. According to figures from the Cuban Observatory on Gender Equality, in 2024 a total of 76 gender-related murders were tried in Cuba, in which victims were over 15 years of age. The agency does not specify when the crimes were committed, but they most likely occurred between 2023 and 2024.
Translated by Regina Anavy
____________
COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.