Cuban dissident on hunger strike agrees to be fed intravenously

Cuban dissident on hunger strike agrees to be fed intravenously

HAVANA, Feb 9, 2006 (AFP) - A Cuban dissident journalist has agreed to
be fed intravenously after an eight-day hunger strike left him in
critical condition, a family member told AFP on Thursday. Guillermo
Farinas, who heads the outlawed Cubanacan news agency, had called the
hunger strike to protest the communist regime's censorship of the Internet.

Farinas initially "said that he didn't want any treatment and insisted
on continuing his strike," said a relative, who asked not to be named.
But after medical staff and relatives insisted, he consented to be put
on an intravenous drip, the relative said.

His family did not support his hunger strike but respected the reasons
for his protest, the source said.
The journalist was in the intensive care ward of Arnaldo Milian hospital
in central Cuba. His health remained in a "delicate" state after having
arrived dehydrated and unconscious, the relative said.

Farinas, 42, a former psychologist who runs his illegal news agency from
Santa Clara, central Cuba, has been detained in the past for his
criticism of Fidel Castro's regime and released for health reasons,
according to a dissident source.

He was hospitalized on Wednesday after eight days on hunger strike, his
20th such protest. The journalist said he went on hunger strike after
the authorities blocked his access to the Internet by cutting off his
account at a cyber cafe where he transmitted news items for his agency.

"He is demanding that there be Internet access in Cuba like in the other
countries of this hemisphere, a free access to the Internet," human
rights activist Elizardo Sanchez said of Farinas Wednesday.

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