Independent feminist observatories confirm two January femicides, bringing 2026 total to six

Independent feminist observatories Observatorio de Género Alas Tensas (OGAT) and Yo Sí Te Creo en Cuba confirmed two femicides in January 2026, bringing their running total for the year to six. One victim is identified as 38-year-old Yaniuska Barrero Machado, killed on January 19 in Las Mercedes, Bartolomé Masó municipality, Granma province; the second January victim was not named in the confirmation.

The confirmations arrive amid ongoing documentation efforts by OGAT and Yo Sí Te Creo, groups that have tracked a persistent rise in fatal gender violence nationwide. The observatories previously corroborated two femicides on July 25, 2025: 41-year-old Yailín Requejo Miranda in Holguín and 29-year-old Yailín Carrasco Pérez in Cienfuegos. "Both victims were killed by their partners," the reporting on those cases states, and the same coverage recorded an attempted femicide that left a minor severely injured. Across the July incidents, three minors were affected - one stabbed and two who witnessed their mothers die.

Longer-term tallies by the observatories point to a sharp increase: their corroborated count for 2023 reached 78 femicides in less than 11 months, more than double the 36 recorded in 2022. Regional monitoring shows wider escalation: at least 1,945 women, adolescents and girls were victims of femicide in Latin America and the Caribbean during the first half of 2023, a 12.5% increase over the prior year. In Cuba, observers recorded 48 cases of fatal violence against women in the first half of 2023, 12 more than in all of 2022.

The organizations emphasize that independent verification fills gaps left by official silence. "The verification and reporting of these crimes has only been possible thanks to the coordinated efforts between OGAT and Yo Sí Te Creo en Cuba, independent feminist platforms that have taken on the task of documenting, verifying, and raising awareness about femicides in the face of the state's complicit silence." One contemporaneous commentary put it bluntly: "The Cuban regime prefers to deny rather than take action." At the same time, state rhetoric has sometimes acknowledged the problem in general terms; President Miguel Díaz‑Canel said, "Every act of violence against women is a scar on human consciousness, a setback in the evolution of the species, an insult to those who gave us life."

For communities, these confirmations signal both urgency and practical steps. Families in Granma, Holguín and Cienfuegos face immediate fallout from loss and trauma; minors affected by nearby cases require protection and medical care. OGAT and Yo Sí Te Creo warned they are investigating possible new cases in Santiago de Cuba, Havana, and Camagüey, and their under‑registration counts put pressure on authorities to release official figures, clarify investigations, and pursue accountability.

Next: readers should expect follow-up reporting on the unnamed January victim, any arrests or charges, and official police or judicial statements. Continued tracking by OGAT and Yo Sí Te Creo will determine whether the 2026 pattern intensifies, and the community will be watching whether state institutions move from rhetoric to documented action.