Two young people who were with the victim were also injured, activists said on social networks.
MIAMI, United States. – A young self-employed woman, identified on social networks as Heidy León Domínguez, was allegedly murdered this Thursday night in Havana during an assault, when she was trying to prevent the theft of her bicycle taxi, according to public complaints on Facebook from relatives and activists, who also reported that two young people who accompanied her were seriously injured.
So far there is no official confirmation from the authorities about the incident.
“Brothers, I don’t even know how to break this horrible news, last night my friend was personally murdered (…). She fought like a lioness defending her bicycle taxi (her livelihood). Two girls who were with her when the events happened are also seriously injured (…)”, Dyango Pulido Vives wrote on Facebookfriend of the victim. The message was widely replicated by media and user groups on Facebook.
The activist Yamilka Laffita (on social networks Lara Crofs), also published a “public complaint” about the same case: “Another victim that leaves us due to the enormous violence unleashed[da] in Havana. (…) He defended his means of support, a pedicab, everything he could, to avoid the crime. “Two young people who were with her were also seriously injured.”
Laffita added that the victim was the mother of “an eight-year-old girl.”
Recent publications by León Domínguez herself In Facebook groups dedicated to transportation by electric tricycles (bicycle taxis) they located her in the Altahabana neighborhood, capital municipality of Boyeros, and show that she worked in that sector.
The reported homicide occurs in a context of growing perception of insecurity, with increases in robberies and assaults reported by independent media and monitoring organizations. A report from the Cuban Observatory of Citizen Audit (OCAC) —disseminated by Cuba Siglo 21— speaks of a “historical record of crime” in 2025 and details increases in robberies, assaults and murders.
Recent events, similar to those reported, illustrate the vulnerability of those who work or depend on light transportation. In September, independent media reported the murder of a pedicab driver in Bayamo during an assault. Furthermore, violent thefts of motorcycles and bicycles have been reported in Havana, including alerts of women affected by these crimes. Although each case has its own dynamics, the pattern of attacks on drivers and cyclists by economic motives is a constant.
Until the closing of this note, there were no public statements from the authorities about the crime or official details about the exact location, the condition of the two injured young women or if there are people detained. Activists insist on the need for clarification. “We ask for justice for Heidy and the affected people. We urge the authorities to carry out a full investigation and for those responsible to face the consequences of their actions,” Laffita demanded.
Is it a femicide?
With the information available so far—an assault for the purpose of robbery—it is not possible to classify the crime as feminicide. UN Women, cited by the Gender Observatory of the magazine Tense Wings (OGAT)defines feminicide as the “intentional murder of a woman for the fact of being one.” The qualification requires investigating “gender reasons” and, in the most widespread definition, it is usually mediated by intimate ties or specific contexts of sexist violence. The criminal investigation must determine whether these elements are present.
Both the OGAT and the independent platform to support victims of gender violence YoSíTeCreo in Cuba have confirmed 35 femicides on the Island alone so far in 2025 and at least 300 since 2019.
According to the joint methodology of OGAT and YoSíTeCreo in Cubafor a homicide to be considered a feminicide, a gender bias must first be proven: when verifying a case, observers must “identify the gender bias,” that is, at least one element that allows us to conclude that the cause of the violence was the fact that the victim was a woman. Only when this bias is proven is the case registered as feminicide within the corresponding typology.
In this same methodology, the term “social feminicide” appears, which is defined as the “murder of a woman by a man with whom she did not have a relationship or family (for example, a stranger, a co-worker, a friend, a neighbor or an employer).” Furthermore, in recent notes, the OGAT has specified that, in its use, this category is “non-sexual in nature” (when sexual violence is involved, the applicable classification would be sexual, not social, femicide).
The OGAT also warns that “not all murders of women during robberies constitute femicides.” They are only classified as such if verification confirms gender bias. As an example of evidence assessed in previous cases, the organizations have pointed out circumstances such as that the aggressors “waited for the victim to be alone and exercised excessive violence against her.”
For the murder of Heidy León González to be considered social feminicide by the OGAT and YoSíTeCreo in Cuba, it would be necessary, at a minimum, to confirm that the aggressor was a man with no intimate or family relationship with the victim; that at least one indicator of gender bias be documented that explains the aggression (beyond the economic motive for the robbery); and that sexual violence was ruled out.
The final determination depends on access to the criminal investigation and forensic elements that allow establishing the facts and that the Island’s regime does not usually disclose.
