MIAMI, United States. — Cuban organizations and platforms made a new call to the island’s authorities to decree a State of Emergency for gender violence.
the wave of femicide registered in Cuba so far this year has once again raised alarms among civil society, which is demanding that the Cuban regime approve a Comprehensive Law Against Gender Violence, as well as an end to the criminalization of feminist activism.
“They are killing us because we lack protocols and effective prevention mechanisms in Cuba, because we do not have access to justice: problems persist in complying with restraining orders and receiving complaints,” says one statement released this Monday and signed by several independent platforms.
The text specifies that in just one week “two disappearances of women have been recorded that have resulted in femicides, and one femicide in a police station, where the 17-year-old victim had managed to enter asking for help while fleeing from her attacker.” and ex-partner, 49 years old and with a history of sexist violence.”
The communiqué accuses the Cuban regime of not taking action on the matter and of promoting through its management the chain failure of the mechanisms that guarantee protection and security to women.
The declaration placed special emphasis on initiatives of the ruling party that remained on paper, such as the Program for the Advancement of Women or the promised Observatory of Gender Violence. Something similar happened with the so-called Line 103, which “was not active for a year.”
The organizations also accused the authorities for their permissiveness against potential aggressors who ended up perpetrating acts of violence.
“They are killing us because many of the identified aggressors had a history of violence, which speaks of the absence of prevention and strategies for the reintegration of these people. They are killing us because we do not have shelters or protection networks that safeguard the lives of women and their children at risk.”
Among the projects and platforms that signed the declaration are the magazine Alas Tensas, the Cuban Alliance for Inclusion, Casa Palanca, the Committee for Racial Integration, Cubalex, the Justicia 11J working group, the Alas Tensas Gender Observatory, the Support Platform for People in Situations of Gender Violence Yes, I Believe You in Cuba, the Network of Community Leaders, the Women’s Network of Cuba and the Afro-Cuban Magazine.
“The signatory projects cannot declare a State of Emergency with the resources and scope that the state institutions could do, but we can unite to prevent and make citizen use of what little is available for the protection of people in situations of gender violence. . We call for citizen articulation that allows us to create support networks and avoid possible femicides and disappearances,” the statement added.
