HAVANA (Reuters) – Cuba warned yesterday that dissident hunger striker Guillermo Farinas was in danger of dying from a blood clot in his neck and may have reached the limits of medical treatment after more than four months without food.
He has rejected entreaties that he eat to save his life and will not be force fed, because medical ethics forbid it, said his lead doctor, Armando Caballero, in an interview in Granma, the newspaper of Cuba’s ruling Communist Party.
“Today the patient has a dangerous potential of death, because it depends on the outcome of that clot,” said Caballero, who is head of intensive care at the hospital in the central city of Santa Clara, where Farinas is being treated.
“I hope it disappears,” he said. The clot is being treated with antibiotics and anti-coagulants.
Caballero said the 48-year-old psychologist also has another in what has been a series of infections, which may make further intravenous feeding impossible.
“We are at the limits,” Caballero said. “We are almost unable to feed him through another catheter because other complications could appear.”
The Granma article appeared aimed at defusing international criticism if Farinas died and perhaps signalling to him and his family that his situation is grave.
Farinas is in the 129th day of a hunger strike demanding the release of ailing political prisoners, but has been fed nutrients and liquids intravenously since entering the hospital on March 11 after collapsing at his home.
He has insisted that he is prepared to die for his cause, and his mother, Alicia Hernandez, told Reuters nothing has changed.
“He would rather die than give up on his strike,” she said in a telephone interview from Santa Clara.
“His fundamental objective is very clear: free the prisoners who are most ill, if not he will go to the ultimate consequences,” she said.
Farinas will not be force fed because medical ethics require that nothing be done without the consent of the patient, Caballero said. But he added that Farinas’ family could approve feeding if he was unconscious.
The article did not refer to Farinas’ reason for the hunger strike. The Cuban government views dissidents as mercenaries working with the United States and other enemies to undermine the island’s communist system.
Farinas has refused to eat or drink anything since Feb 24, the day after the death of dissident hunger striker Orlando Zapata Tamayo.
Zapata’s death drew international criticism of human rights in Cuba, while Farinas’ case has helped keep attention on the issue.
Cuban President Raul Castro said both men are common criminals and that the government would not give into their “blackmail.”
He blamed the United States for the hunger strikes, saying they were the result of its long attempts to foment dissent on the island 90 miles (145 km) to its south.
Cuba, trying to bolster its international image, released one of its estimated 190 political prisoners last month and moved 12 others to jails closer to their homes after a meeting in May with Cardinal Jaime Ortega, the leader of Cuba’s Catholic church.
Church officials say they are hoping for more prisoner releases.
Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos is due to visit Cuba tomorrow to meet with Cuban officials on the issue.
