Though very weak, he is conscious, aware and stable, his mother in Cuba says

Guillermo Fariñas Says He Would Accept an Honorable Proposal for Ending his Hunger Strike

Raúl Castro meeting with Cardinal Jaime Ortega and Archbishop Dionisio García.
(Photo: Cubadebate)

Gerardo Arreola Correspondent

La Jornada newspaper Saturday, May 22, 2010, p. 21

Havana, May 21. Guillermo Fariñas, who has been on a hunger strike (WALTER—It said “y sed”; how can we work this in?) for nearly three months in an effort to get the sickest political prisoners released, said today that he would accept an honorable proposal by the Catholic Church for ending his protest, following the opening of a dialogue between the clergy and President Raúl Castro.

“If the proposal is honorable, I’ll accept it,” Fariñas told La Jornada in a telephone interview. “If I don’t think it is, I won’t accept it, and will continue my protest.” (WALTER—All this was “we” in the Spanish)

Cardinal Jaime Ortega reported last Thursday that two Catholic emissaries had spoken with Fariñas—not to ask him to end the protest, but to tell him to have faith that the Church might convince the Cuban Government to free the prisoners.

Fariñas said that the priests told him that a contact would be made at the highest level, after which they would bring him a concrete proposal. Topics covered in the conversation that Castro had with Ortega and Archbishop Dionisio García last Wednesday included the hunger strike and the freeing of political prisoners.

Fariñas has been in the intensive care ward of Arnaldo Milián Hospital, in the city of Santa Clara, in central Cuba, since March 12. He has been on a hunger strike for two thirds of the time. (WALTER—It said “por lo que ha pasado ahí más de dos tercios del ayuno”)

His mother, Alicia Hernández, said that he has had three crises caused by golden staphylococcus, for which he was given antibiotics, while in the hospital.

This week, he was found to have cystitis, which made it necessary to make a urine culture and remove the catheter which had been used to feed him. The catheter will be replaced once the diagnosis is made, Hernández—who is a retired nurse—said. Meanwhile, liquids are being administered to the patient through a peripheral vein.

This month, Fariñas also began to be given special medicine for the protection of his digestive tract. His mother reported that, though very weak, he was conscious, aware and stable.

Ortega said that the Government had made no pledges or set a time limit but that the question of political prisoners had been discussed seriously.




 

http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2010/05/22/index.php?section=mundo&article=021n1mun