Havana/Nurse Magaly Aragón, 58, was murdered last Tuesday in the rural community of La Yaya, in the municipality of Jatibonico, province of Sancti Spíritus. The woman, who worked in a prison camp, was intercepted when she returned to her home and died of asphyxiation, according to information disclosed on social networks and confirmed by this newspaper through local sources.
A witness consulted by 14ymedio He reported that, hours after the crime, he was able to see the detainee when he was being transported by a strong police operation. According to his testimony, the man was wearing a straitjacket and was taken to a psychiatric clinic, apparently for a medical evaluation.
According to Cuban YouTuber Niover Licea, the alleged perpetrator of the crime is Yoel Soriano Santana, a common inmate with a criminal record. The attack occurred between 1:00 and 3:00 in the afternoon, in a cane field in the La Yaya Popular Council. Licea claimed that the victim was sexually assaulted before being murdered.
The man was wearing a straitjacket and was taken to a psychiatric clinic, apparently for a medical evaluation.
Soriano Santana, according to the data released, is serving a previous sentence of 26 years for murder and would have entered the prison system in November 2005. After the homicide, he was captured and remains in custody while the case proceedings are carried out by the Provincial Operational Guard.
The case has once again highlighted the serious security failures of the penitentiary system and the control of people with a record of violent crimes, especially when it comes to individuals who, despite previous convictions for homicide, manage to move out of detention centers without proper custody.
Professor Eudoxia Pérez, who knew the victim, lamented the murder and described Magaly Aragón as “an excellent worker and a dedicated mother.” Pérez expressed his hope that “justice will assess this horrendous crime with the maximum penalty.”
The homicide was recorded just hours after the independent platforms Yo Sí Te Creo and Alas Tensas reported new femicides that had occurred on the Island. With these cases, the independent count of 14ymedio – based on the records of both organizations and reports on social networks – raised the number of confirmed sexist murders to 43 in 2025.
Alas Tensas has denounced that, despite the regime’s efforts to project an image of institutional response to violence against women and girls, crimes continue to accumulate in citizen records. The organization emphasizes that the measures announced as “advances” do not translate into effective prevention or real protection for victims.
According to Cuban YouTuber Niover Licea, the alleged perpetrator of the crime is Yoel Soriano Santana, a common inmate with a criminal record.
The Cuban Government recognized in 2025 that the courts identified 76 women murdered by their partners, ex-partners or other people in trials held that year. In 2023, official figures counted 110 victims. Even so, the authorities keep without public access the computerized administrative record that the Attorney General’s Office, the Ministry of the Interior and the Supreme Court promised to prepare jointly.
Although a specialized office for comprehensive and multidisciplinary legal care for victims of gender violence was inaugurated last November – a project that aspires to extend to 40 municipalities – activists and experts agree that an immediate response is still lacking when there are prior alerts and, above all, prevention policies that prevent tragedies like the one that ended the life of Magaly Aragón.
