The government has still not provided the number of femicides per year, let alone updated it.
14ymedio, Madrid, 2 August 2024 — Cuban authorities continue to conscientiously guard the data on women killed by male violence, but Thursday’s publication of the number of femicides prosecuted in 2023 shows an alarming figure. In a single year, the increase was more than 500%, going from 18 prosecutions for this crime in 2022 to 110 in 2023.
Cuba’s Observatory on Gender Equality, part of the National Office of Statistics and Information (Onei) published on Thursday what was its first update since the body was launched in June 2023, whose website includes the number of cases tried for femicides.
The data is broken down into two different sections; on the one hand that of “women aged 15 and over who were victims of gender-related murder at the hands of their partners, ex-partners or other persons”, which amounted to 60 in 2023, and on the other hand, that of “women aged 15 and over who were victims of murder by their partner or ex-partner known in judicial proceedings”. Unified, in accordance with international standards, the figure was 110, bearing in mind that the number refers to cases that were prosecuted during that year and not necessarily to crimes committed in the same period.
The combined rate is 2.16 per 100,000 women. The figure places Cuba as the sixth country in the region.
The combined rate is 2.16 per 100,000 women. The figure places Cuba as the sixth country in the region according to the records of femicides of the Gender Equality Observatory of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) for 2022, the latest year available. However, the organisation itself warns about caution when comparing data between countries, as there is no unified regional methodology when it comes to counting.
In a more detailed analysis, in the case of “victims of gender-related murder”, the figure for Havana (12) stands out, although due to its larger population, the rate is much lower (1.42) than that of Camagüey (10 cases and a rate of 3.37) and Matanzas (8 cases and a rate of 2.87). There is also an imbalance between crimes committed in urban (37) and rural (23) areas, although the rate also changes, being 1.09 and 2.33, respectively.
As for the profile of the victims, by age, the 20 to 44 age group stands out (39 victims), followed by the 45 to 59 age group (14); while by race, the majority were white, followed by mulatas. 71.6% did not work and 38 minors were left without maternal care. As far as the perpetrator is concerned, in 83.3% of the cases the relationship was or had been a couple.
In the other block — that of “victims of murder by a partner or ex-partner” — the data are very similar, which confirms the need to look at them separately. Havana tried 9 cases, for a rate of 1.06, followed by Camagüey (8 cases and a rate of 2.70) and Matanzas (7 cases and a rate of 2.51). The rural area also has a higher rate (2.03) despite a lower number of cases (20) than the urban area (30, and a rate of 0.88). Once again, the group of victims aged 20 to 44 (34) stands out, followed by those aged 45 to 59 (13). Similarly, 70% of victims were unemployed and 34 minors were left without a mother. 64% were killed by their ex-partners and 36% by their current partner.
64% were killed by their ex-partners and 36% by their current partner.
In 2023, the Observatory provided these statistics for the first time, corresponding to the previous year. On that occasion, it also opted for two categories which resulted in “the judicial processes resolved in the country’s courts in 2022.” The count was 18: 16 women were murdered by their partners (six) or ex-partners (ten), plus two by unknown persons. In the same year, feminist associations and the independent press documented 34 murders, almost twice as many as were tried, without it being possible to know how many corresponded to that year and how many to previous periods.
In 2023, according to this newspaper’s independent registry, there were 87 women murdered by men, fewer than the 110 that were tried according to the official data, which again conceals when the crimes took place. This fact makes it impossible to know the incidence of the crime by year, although it is possible to observe the marked rise in the number of cases that reached the courts and which may be due to one or several reasons, without it being possible to determine to what extent they come together due to insistent governmental opacity.
On the one hand, greater awareness in reporting this type of crime could be behind the rise, compared to previous periods in which these acts were hidden or recorded as murders without further specification. On the other hand, the diligence of the courts may have increased after President Miguel Díaz-Canel called on judges to prioritise the phenomenon of femicides. A third argument is more likely, and that is that the problem has been made visible by the insistence of an independent press and civil society that have forced a state that used to have a monopoly on information to show some transparency, even if it is still careful not to use a detailed methodology.
The data published yesterday contain another section that provides a great deal of information on male violence against women in Cuba, and that is the statistics on cases brought to trial for assaults and sexual violence. In 2023, there were 378 processes of this type, 209 of them (4.77 per 100,000 women) were crimes of sexual aggression and 169 corresponded to other types of sexual violence (3.85). Most cases were concentrated in Havana (58 with a rate of 6.84); Ciego de Avila (51 with a staggering rate of 30.73); Matanzas (35 and 12.55); Villa Clara (35 and 11.47); Pinar del Río (33 and 14.60); and Santiago de Cuba (28 and 6.69).
In 2023, there were 378 prosecutions of this type, 209 of them (4.77 per 100,000 women) were crimes of sexual assault and 169 corresponded to other types of sexual violence.
In December 2023, the Attorney General’s Office announced that it would be in charge of carrying out an “administrative register” to collect information in real time on the deaths of women and girls due to male violence, a census that is still conspicuous by its absence, while it continues to depend on this annual update to know the extent of a problem that overwhelms Cuba.
So far this year, this newspaper has counted 28 femicides, the most recently confirmed being that of Yumary Morales Guerra, who was fatally attacked by her ex-partner on 8 July and died a week later.
Feminist associations have been calling for years for a comprehensive law against gender violence that goes beyond criminal content and includes prevention, through the involvement of all sectors of society, from the security forces themselves to judges and health professionals, as well as education and communication. In 2021, the government postponed at least until 2026 such a norm according to its legislative timetable.
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