From the Department of Congenital Ingratitude, Guillermo Farinas, who, NOT IN
PRISON, starved himself into the hospital where Cuban doctors - working in a
government-operated public hospital - , worked diligently, and successfully to
save his life, now says he doesn't want to be admitted to the hospital there!

As long as he was conscious, it was his decision to eat or starve, but once he
lost consciousness, Cuban society had a responsibility to care for the man, and
it carried out that responsibility fully. His life was saved. Read what the
physician in charge of Farinas had to say:

GRANMA
Havana, Sunday, July 4, 2010. Year 14 / Number 186
Fighting for Life is our Duty
says Doctor assisting Cuban Hunger Striker
http://www.walterlippmann.com/docs3043.html
===============================================

MIAMI HERALD
Posted on Wed, Oct. 19, 2011
Cuban dissidents voice concern about hospitals as Pollán's daughter praises
mother's treatment

By Juan O. Tamayo
jtamayo@...
In this 2008 file photo, Laura Pollan, a Cuban opposition leader and member of
the organization "Ladies in White, leaves a house to take part in a protest in
Havana.
ADALBERTO ROQUE / AFP/Getty Images
In this 2008 file photo, Laura Pollan, a Cuban opposition leader and member of
the organization "Ladies in White, leaves a house to take part in a protest in
Havana.
Seven prominent Cuban dissidents, highlighting their suspicions about the death
of Ladies in White founder Laura Pollán, said Wednesday they don't want to be
sent to any government hospital without the approval of a trusted doctor.

Pollán, 63, died after a week in intensive care in Havana's Calixto Garcia
Hospital from what doctors said was a heart attack caused by viral pneumonia and
diabetes. Her daughter, Laura Labrada, said Wednesday that she had no reason to
doubt that.

Yet, some dissidents and exiles have begun to speculate, with little or no
evidence, that Pollán was somehow poisoned by agents of the Raúl Castro
government or did not receive adequate treatment at the hospital.

The seven Cubans who issued a joint statement as members of the Cuban Democratic
Aliance (ALDECU), wrote that their decision was driven by the "untimely" death
of Pollán on Oct. 14.

"We do not want to be admitted to government hospitals, unless it's a case that
clearly requires a surgical procedure, so long as the need has been duly
certified by an independent doctor that we trust," said the statement.

Their goal is "to avoid that any supposed ailment or the death of any of us
could be manipulated in some way by the political police of the totalitarian
regime," the signers added. The government runs the island's entire public
health system.

They also asked that their wakes last at least one night and alleged that
government agents pushed to cremate Pollán's body quickly — after a two-hour
wake and only six hours after she died. Labrada denied any such pressures.

The signers were human rights activist Elizardo Sánchez Santa Cruz, former
political prisoners Jose Daniel Ferrer García and Hector Palacios and dissidents
Guillermo Fariñas, Rene Gómez Manzano, Ivan Hernández and Gisela Delgado.

Labrada told El Nuevo Herald that the Calixto García Hospital took very good
care of her mother, perhaps to avert later accusations that it caused or allowed
the dissident's death.

Doctors and nurses were almost constantly at Pollán's side, Labrada noted. And,
in a country where patients often must bring their own bed sheets and medicines
to hospitals, they provided all medicines and almost-new bed sheets.

"I am not a doctor. But from what I saw, she received very good attention," the
daughter added. "I thought to myself that they were going to do the impossible,
because later there might be all kinds of conjectures."

But the Rev. Ricardo Medina, a Protestant pastor who helped prepare Pollán's
body for her wake, wrote in a blog Wednesday that he took a sample of her hair
and follicles "so that a friendly hand could deliver it to a laboratory abroad
with the goal of determining … the real cause of Laura's death."

Dissidents and exiles argue that Fidel Castro's long record of trying to kill
people he considers to be his enemies makes it easy to believe that the Cuban
government would try to silence a voice as strong and respected as Pollán's.

"If Fidel were still in charge I would not hesitate to say yes," said Brian
Latell, a retired CIA analyst and author of "Castro's Secrets: The CIA and
Cuba's Intelligence Machine," to be published in April. But brother and
successor Raúl Castro would be more cautious and likely to try less violent
means to neutralize someone like Pollán, he added.

Yet, the conjectures abounded on the death of Pollán, who helped found the
Ladies in White in 2003 to demand the release of her husband, Hector Maseda, and
74 other opposition activists jailed during a harsh government crackdown on
dissent.

Medina wrote that her extremely bloated body pointed to a renal failure that
could have been dealt with diuretics in the hospital. The proper medicines were
apparently not administered in order to cause her death or an incapacitating
stroke, he added.

A half- dozen members and supporters of the Ladies in White have complained of
being stuck with what appeared to have been hypodermic needles during street
confrontations with government-organized mobs.

Dissident Sara Martha Fonseca said the fingers of her hands and feet and her
tongue went numb after she was stuck in the back with what she believed was a
needle wielded by government supporters who attacked a Ladies in White street
protest in late 2009.

She initially blamed the symptoms on the blows from the government supporters
and her two herniated disks, Fonseca said. But she and another Lady in White
noticed marks on their backs, and a friendly doctor said hers appeared to have
been made by a needle.

Fonseca noted that some of the women dissidents are so suspicious that one had a
blood test done under an assumed name to make sure the government — which
controls Cuba's entire health system — would not be able to cover up any
negative results.

Labrada said the quick cremation of Pollán's body was her decision, because she
wanted to take the ashes as soon as possible to Manzanillo in eastern Cuba — the
city where she lives, where her mother was born and where many relatives live.

"No one put pressure," she told El Nuevo Herald by telephone. Her mother's death
"was like the world was ending" and the quick cremation was the result of "the
pain and suffering of a desperate daughter who wanted to find the warmth of my
own family."

Read more:
http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/10/19/v-print/2462491/daughter-pollan-received-g\
ood.html#ixzz1brbK1uMs