The murder of a teenager in a police station at the hands of her 50-year-old ex-partner causes shock in Cuba

The murder of 17-year-old Leidy Bacallao has shocked and outraged Cuba.

Added to the cruelty of the attack and the more than 30-year difference between the alleged murderer and his victim is the fact that it happened in a police station.

It happened at dawn on Saturday in the city of Nuevitas, in the central province of Camagüey, some 500 km east of Havana.

“A 50-year-old individual, with poor social behavior and multiple criminal records, killed his 17-year-old ex-partner, who was seeking shelter in the substation of the National Revolutionary Police of the community, with the use of bladed weapons.” , mentions the official statement from the Ministry of the Interior, without providing more information.

BBC Mundo spoke with the local independent journalist José Luis Tan, who gathered information about what happened.

the victim and the alleged murderer, Elesvan Hidalgo, 50 years oldhad maintained a sentimental relationship in the near past, sources close to the family told the journalist.

The teenager was at a party around midnight on Saturday when Hidalgo began to harass and threaten her.

Leidy ran to a nearby police station for help and he followed her armed with a machete.

Tan assures that “the exact description of the events is still unknown, but we do know that the man entered the police station, took the victim out and committed the femicide.”

Police inefficiency and sexist violence

“The fact that this happens in a police station already speaks of very serious problems in police action,” a spokeswoman for the YoSíTeCreo feminist association told BBC Mundo from Cuba.

In the absence of clarification of what happened, other activists and Internet users have denounced the alleged inefficiency of the police when it comes to protecting the minor and the absence of a protocol for emergencies in this type of case.

In any case, the murder of Leidy has put the spotlight on gender violence and femicides in Cuba.

Only so far this year, six women have been murdered and last year the figure was 36, another 36 in 2021 and 32 in 2020, according to data from YoSíTeCreo which, in the absence of official statistics, publishes its own figures based on the records it manages to verify.

“The real number we know is much higher,” explains the spokesperson for the feminist collective.

He assures that, since the Cuban authorities do not offer regular information on femicides, this association has to verify case by case and cannot cover all those that occur in this country of some 11 million inhabitants.

Violence is no longer invisible

In fact, until a few years ago the government and the official media did not usually report this type of event, which remained completely invisible, out of the knowledge of the vast majority of the population.

But the generalization of the use of social networks -especially since the 3G mobile internet service began in the country at the end of 2018- made it impossible to hide the relevant crimes that were taking place in the country.

“This is due to the internet and more activists and sensitized people. The people who give us information are a vital part of this visibility. The silence has been broken in many ways”, explains the representative of YoSíTeCreo from anonymity.

In general, when a femicide or flagrant crime occurs in Cuba, the information begins to spread on social networks and on independent or foreign press channels. Then the government publishes its official version through the state media, the only ones officially allowed in the country.

“We do not believe that (the state media) report on that issue. They have done some work but it is not constant or clear. In fact, they debate a lot between whether femicide or femicide or murder based on gender and not looking for figures or facilitating the debate ”, criticizes the spokesperson for the group.

The progress

In any case, many agree that something is changing in Cuba – a country with deep-rooted macho customs as criticized by activists and even sometimes recognized by government entities – in terms of gender violence.

In September 2022, the new Family Code was approved by referendum, which established a new legal framework for social and personal relationships.

Among other things, this new code opens ways to penalize domestic aggressors in aspects such as custody of their children, in addition to other legislative reforms in favor of gender equality undertaken by the government since last year.

For YosíTeCreo it is not enough: “We lack effective prevention protocols and mechanisms in Cuba, because we do not have access to justice. Problems persist in complying with restraining orders and receiving complaints,” denounces the association.

The Becquer case

In any case, the efforts of civil society organizations and independent media have achieved results unthinkable just a few years ago, and we are not just talking about legislative reforms.

A significant and recent example is the case of the troubadour Fernando Bécquer.

Several testimonies published in 2021 on the independent portal “El Estornudo” pointed to this artist as the perpetrator of sexual crimes against numerous women throughout his career.

The case became the Cuban “Me Too” and Bécquer was brought to trial despite his notorious political affinity with the regime headed by Miguel-Díaz-Canel, something that many believed made him “untouchable”.

Demonstrated in the trial the abuses of the troubadour, in October 2022 he was sentenced to 5 years of imprisonment. probation probation.

But in the following months, the artist published content mocking the victims and strong social pressure led the Cuban justice system to reconsider his prison situation.

He is now serving the remainder of his prison sentence. (YO)