The death of a woman at the hands of her partner in Mantilla, Havana, adds a new episode of femicide for Cuba so far this year, as confirmed by the YoSiTeCreo (YSTC) platform.
“We regret the femicide of Yamila Batista, which occurred yesterday, November 20, in Mantilla, Havana, at the hands of her partner. She is survived by two children. We send our condolences to family and close people,” she (YSTC) posted on her Facebook profile.
The victim resided in the Havana municipality of Arroyo Naranjo. The attacker turned himself in to a police unit in that area, according to the account of people close to the murdered woman.
YSTC activists in Cuba, dedicated to supporting and accompanying people in situations of sexist violence on the island, also reported a matricide in Colón, in the western province of Matanzas. In this event, and according to the report of efea man attacked several people, and murdered his mother and another woman before committing suicide.
The feminist group recalled that “today marks three years since the formal delivery of the request for (a) Comprehensive Law against Gender Violence,” an insistent claim by Cuban activists.
This month, the Women’s Network of Cuba launched a campaign in order to make visible the “urgency” of having a regulation on the matter on the island.
In the first half of the year, 24 women died violently, there were four attempted attacks and one vicarious murder was verified, according to YSTC, which together with other organizations collects this data in the absence of an official count.
In comparison, this group verified 36 femicides in the whole of 2021 and 32 in 2020, including four vicarious murders.
Their criticisms point out that femicide is not classified as a crime in the current Cuban Penal Code and that there are no shelters for victims of domestic abuse, nor a Comprehensive Law against gender violence.
The new Penal Code, approved on May 15 and coming into force next December, contemplates gender-based violence, but does not define the crime of femicide.
The activists of the feminist collectives advocate for “a specific law against gender violence, for comprehensive protection, to prevent, punish and eradicate violence against women in both spaces, private and public.”
Efe/OnCuba.
