Health Of Three Siblings On Hunger Strike In Cuba Worsens

Health Of Three Siblings On Hunger Strike In Cuba Worsens

14ymedio Havana, 27 March 2017 — The health of the siblings Fidel
Batista Leyva, and Anairis and Adairis Miranda Leyva is worsening, as
Monday marked their 21 days on a hunger strike, according to their
mother, Maydolis Leyva Portelles, who spoke with 14ymedio.

Members of the Cuban Reflection Movement, the three siblings are
experiencing "a serious deterioration" of their health.

In a telephone conversation, Leyva denounced the "cruel and inhuman"
treatment she has received from the political police who will not allow
her to see her twin daughters, one of them admitted to the Vladimir
Ilich Lenin University General Hospital of Holguin and the other in
Lucía Iñiguez Landín Clinical Surgical Hospital.

"All patients have the right to see their relatives at two in the
afternoon but I have been told that until my daughters stop the strike I
cannot see them," says the mother.

14ymedio contacted the Lenin Hospital by telephone and was able to
confirm with the information desk that Anairis Miranda has been admitted
to the intermediate therapy care room in bed 2. Medical sources report
her condition as "serious."

The nurse on duty in the intermediate therapy room explained that
Adairis Miranda, sister of Anairis, "is not reported to be in as serious
a condition," but continues in "voluntary starvation."

Leyva explains that her son is being held in the Cuba Sí Holguin Prison
where as of Monday he has been a hunger strike for 21 days, with five
days of that also on a thirst strike.

"Despite the prolonged strike they keep him in a punishment cell
sleeping on the ground," says his mother.

The three siblings were serving sentences of one year accused of the
crimes of public disorder and of defamation of heroes and martyrs. The
authorities accuse them of having "made a provocation" last November 27,
during the days of national mourning over the death of former President
Fidel Castro, an accusation that the three deny.

Later the activists were victims of an act of repudiation; their homes
were raided, they were beaten and their personal property was stolen,
concluding in the arrest of the three siblings

The Miranda Leyva twins were held in the Provincial Women's Prison,
while Batista Leyva was a prisoner at La Ladrillera Work Camp, from
where he was transferred to Cuba Sí, a penitentiary with a more severe
regime.

The strikers demand the "unconditional freedom for the 10 political
prisoners of the Cuban Reflection Movement" and the "acquittal" of Dr.
Eduardo Cardet of the Christian Liberation Movement.

The regime opponent Librado Linares who heads the Cuban Reflection
Movement told14ymedio that the siblings are being held prisoner "unjustly."

"Those responsible for their lives are placed at the highest level, from
Raul Castro to the authorities of the Interior Ministry in the province,
for having thrown them into this situation," said Linares.

Source: Health Of Three Siblings On Hunger Strike In Cuba Worsens –
Translating Cuba -
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