Questions Arise Over Murder of Young Cuban Woman Found in Dumpster

Three days after the discovery of the body of Lianet Núñez Pérez, a 20-year-old Cuban woman, in a dumpster in Old Havana, questions remain about the circumstances and perpetrators of her murder.

Despite reports indicating that the victim's boyfriend had been arrested in connection with the crime, journalist Wilfredo Cancio Isla clarified this Monday—citing testimonies from sources close to the victim—that the boyfriend has not been arrested but merely interviewed by authorities.

On the morning of August 23, Lianet's mutilated body was found just three blocks from the home she shared with her partner, Ariel Rodríguez, who is 19 years old. The body had both legs amputated at the knees. Investigations have confirmed that she died from asphyxiation by strangulation, around 10 p.m. on Thursday.

The young woman had been stripped of bracelets and other accessories she was wearing, retaining only a ring given to her by her boyfriend. Her phone, which has not been found, was last connected at 9 p.m. on Thursday. The initial alert for her disappearance indicated that her trail was lost at the park of Monte and Belascoaín in Central Havana.

Differing Accounts and Family Reactions

However, according to the journalist, other testimonies from relatives in Santiago de las Vegas indicate that the boyfriend had said he saw her off at 6 p.m. on Thursday and put her in a car headed to Santiago de las Vegas. Shortly after noon on Friday, Ariel Rodríguez called relatives in Santiago de las Vegas to check if Lianet was with them. The response was negative.

Yoanis Pérez, Lianet's mother, went to the police station in Old Havana handling the case of the mutilated body and confirmed that the body held at Legal Medicine was her daughter's. Lianet's body was mourned for a few hours at a funeral home in Santiago de las Vegas, and was later cremated. On Saturday morning, a family funeral was held at her grandparents' house.

Lianet's father, who has been living in the United States for years, could not travel to Havana for his daughter's funeral. Lianet was born and raised in Santiago de las Vegas, in the Boyeros municipality of Havana. She mainly lived at her grandparents' house in the Villanueva neighborhood but had been living with Rodríguez for over a year, who graduated from nursing in Old Havana.

Feminist platforms have labeled the case a femicide on Monday, but the perpetrator remains unidentified. "Although it is not yet possible to identify who assaulted her, this crime qualifies as femicide due to elements such as the disappearance, disposal of the body in a public space, and extreme violence," stated the Observatorio de Género Alas Tensas (OGAT) and the YoSíTeCreo en Cuba platform jointly.

"We ask the public to be considerate towards the family, not to share photos of the crime scene, and not to make judgments about an unimaginable situation for which no one is prepared. It is regrettable that in the face of these events, extremes of morbid curiosity or silence, including from media outlets, prevail rather than critical denunciation," they pointed out.

Both platforms expressed "outrage at the police and authorities, who despite numerous reported disappearances and demonstrated the effectiveness of an early alert, continue with the criminal protocol of not accepting immediate reports of disappearance, nor establishing an institutional alert that reaches every mobile phone and media outlet." As of this writing, official sources remain silent on the case, which unfortunately is not the first of its kind this summer. Recently, the same platforms verified the femicide of Linda Nay Flores Vargas, a 34-year-old woman who was also murdered and dumped in a dumpster in Havana.