14ymedio, Havana, 27 April 2025 — The femicides of Daimi Tamayo Milán in Granma and Melissa Castillo in Santiago de Cuba, between last Wednesday and Friday, have shocked their communities and raised the tone of popular demands for greater criminal punishment to curb gender-based violence in Cuba. The alleged murderer of the former has been found dead, while the latter has not been arrested, according to several reports.
Tamayo Milán was murdered last Friday in the Granma municipality of Bartolomé Masó, allegedly by her ex-husband, identified as Yordan, who struck her several times with a machete. According to reports, the man had previously threatened to kill the victim and their daughter. According to information published by La Tijera, the attacker entered the woman’s home and fled after committing the attack.
“Yordan took his own life, presumably by poisoning. He preferred to flee earthly punishment and face divine justice.”
Tamayo Milán’s family is keeping her 10-year-old daughter in a safe place, the newspaper added. The funeral took place this Saturday.
This Sunday, independent journalist Guillermo Rodríguez Sánchez confirmed on social media that the attacker was found dead.
“Yordan took his own life, presumably by poisoning. He preferred to flee earthly punishment and face divine justice. Our condolences go out to the family of that girl on both sides; ultimately, it is the child who in just three days has been orphaned by both mother and father,” Rodríguez wrote.
Last Wednesday, Melissa Castillo was attacked by her ex-partner, with whom she had two children, in building 25 of the Micro III neighborhood in Salao, Santiago de Cuba. According to information provided by journalist Yosmany Mayeta Labrada on social media, the victim’s uncle and current partner were also injured in the attack.
Both people were hospitalized due to the severity of the injuries caused by the assailant, a Guantánamo native, whose identity was not released.
For Alas Tensas, the existing legal measures on the island show “a significant gap between public policies and real-life experiences.”
With the femicides of Daimi Tamayo Milán and Melissa Castillo, the number of victims of gender-based violence reaches 12 this year, according to the database maintained by 14ymedio. By province, there were two femicides in Holguín, two in Havana, one in Camagüey, one in Artemisa, one each in Santiago de Cuba, Las Tunas, and Granma, and three in Ciego de Ávila. To date, the platforms Yo sí te creo and Alas Tensas have not provided reports on the most recent cases.
However, both platforms have previously expressed the need for harsher penalties for abusers and better protection programs for victims. For Alas Tensas, the existing legal measures on the island show “a significant gap between public policies and the real experiences” of women on the streets and in their homes.
“The discrepancy between official statistics alone and reports from independent organizations is remarkable. The Alas Tensas Gender Observatory and Yo Sí Te Creo en Cuba have documented 274 femicides from 2019 to April 2025.”
Gender violence, the feminist platform emphasized, remains “a complex and structural problem.”
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