Ailing Cuban hunger striker refuses treatment again
AFP - A Cuban dissident journalist on a hunger strike for two weeks was
diagnosed as suffering from heart arrhythmia and severe dehydration but
again refused hospitalization, a spokesman said Wednesday.
Guillermo Farinas, 48, rejected a recommendation for his hospitalization
made by physicians sent by the state, said Ismel Iglesias, a doctor who
has been aiding the dissident told AFP by telephone from the city of
Santa Clara.
Iglesias siad the two doctors sent by the government said Farinas was
suffering from "heart arrhythmia and advanced dehydration."
But Iglesias said that Farinas "insists he will only (accept treatment)
when he becomes unconscious."
The journalist has lost 13 kilos (28 pounds) since going on the hunger
strike to seek the release of 26 political prisoners who are seeking
medical treatment, Iglesias said.
"He is very fragile, dehydration is quite marked, his skin is dry and
scaly and his eyes sunken," added Iglesias.
Farinas was hospitalized a week ago after losing consciousness due to
hypoglycemia.
He has vowed to press ahead "to the end" with his protest fast, which he
began the day after political prisoner Orlando Zapata died on the 85th
day of his own hunger strike.
Meanwhile, former political prisoner Felix Bonne, 70, who has been a
member of the dissident "Democratic Cuban Alliance," said he would start
his own hunger strike if Farinas dies.
The Cuban government earlier this week denounced the hunger strike as
"blackmail" and rejected his demand to free 26 political prisoners
needing medical care, according to the official Communist Party
newspaper Granma.
France24 - Ailing Cuban hunger striker refuses treatment again (10 March
2010)
http://www.france24.com/en/20100310-ailing-cuban-hunger-striker-refuses-treatment-again
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