Authorities evade all responsibility for the abandonment of Yusmila Mayo’s five children.
14ymedio, Havana, 8 July 2025 — The official State media outlet Granma published a brief note on Tuesday about the arrest of Kenier Ávila Ramírez, accused of the murder of Orlis Daniela, a nine-year-old girl in the Grito de Yara community in Granma province. The article, which highlights the detainee’s “long criminal record” without providing a single detail and extols the “socialist” values of child protection, completely omits a crucial fact: the little girl was already an indirect victim of gender-based violence. Her mother, Yusmila Mayo Ruiz, was murdered in 2024 by her partner.
This media blackout contrasts with the human and social dimension of the case. This is not just the murder of a minor, but the second violent crime to shake the same family in just over a year. Granma’s omission is not accidental: it avoids mentioning that Orlis Daniela was the daughter of one of the 76 victims of femicides whose cases were brought to trial in 2024, although some of the crimes were committed the previous year.
The girl lived with her grandparents, who were not home when the murder occurred.
Yusmila was murdered on February 14 in Las Tunas, a crime indirectly witnessed by her five children, who found her body. Since then, the whereabouts and situation of these children, especially Orlis Daniela, have remained unclear. According to information gathered by 14ymedio, the girl lived with her grandparents, who were not home when she was murdered on June 20.
The official handling of both crimes—that of the mother and that of the daughter—reflects a worrying lack of transparency and sensitivity. While in countries like Spain, cases of femicide are publicly recorded and updated, in Cuba, information is provided in bits and pieces, with no public access to an official registry and a persistent refusal to approve a Comprehensive Law against Gender Violence.
Granma does not mention the victim’s family background, nor of her already facing being a motherless child.
In the Granma article, there is no mention of the victim’s family background, nor of her already facing being a motherless child. The State, which proclaims itself the guarantor of children and their rights, thus ignores the accumulated pain of a girl who lived and died marked by violence.
Furthermore, by avoiding mentioning the situation of Orlis Daniela’s other four siblings—also minors and potentially in vulnerable situations—the government is evading its responsibility in the face of a multiple tragedy. Feminist groups have demanded that the State provide special attention to the children of victims of femicide, but there has been no public response.
While the State insists that “the full weight of the law will fall upon” the minor’s killer, no explanation is given as to why a man with his criminal record managed to approach her, nor are any details offered about the protection mechanisms (if any) in her environment.
The double tragedy that has struck this family is not just an individual tragedy. It is also a symptom of the institutional failure to prevent violence, protect victims, and act responsibly in reporting.
Granma ’s silence about Yusmila Mayo Ruiz is, in itself, a form of violence: one that denies victims their full story.
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