The students of the Universidad de Oriente live two “wars”: that of dengue and the lack of transparency. One of them snatched his partner Richard Daniel Nieves Chaveco; the other involved his death in an offense and broke his credibility with the health authorities of Santiago de Cuba.
“Richard arrived home from the University unwell and his mother took him to the Emilio Bárcena Hospital in Mayarí Arriba. Without performing an analysis, he returned home. The next day they referred him to the Ambrosio Grillo Hospital. He died within 24 hours. Without a cold and with bleeding organs, they certified that he died of bronchopneumonia,” said Himilce, one of his former classmates in the fourth year of Geography.
Dissatisfied with the censorship, the students appealed to the university authorities and found no answers either. In Leonardo’s opinion, “Higher Education managers look like robotsbut they are not the only ones who behave like machines; Public Health officials cover up violationsthey cling to lies and are blind and deaf to criticism.”
Given the explanation of the Rectorate that “the health is an achievement of the Revolution and his prestige is above any complaint”, Diego recalled that “lying is an insult and puts you on the wrong side of life.”
For Arlietis, indignation is growing because “reality does not agree with what is reported, those who falsify the facts do not break the chains of contagion and students of all faculties face similar dangers due to the terrible hygienic and sanitary conditions at the Universidad de Oriente“.
“Habitually Cuba makes up the statistics and omits sensitive information about dengue, which damages written memory, compromises reference texts, makes official references difficult, endangers the people and offends families,” said Lilian when outlining the consequences of the event and the pain of Richard’s mother, who lost her life at only 22 years old.
Two patient lists: one internal and one public
At the Ambrosio Grillo Hospital, not all medical staff become complicit in fraud reported by students and relatives of the victim. Some consulted by DIARIO DE CUBA accepted that the young man died of dengue and dozens of patients suffer from the disease and may suffer a similar fate.
A specialist in Internal Medicine explained that “it is unethical that the hospital management indicates carrying two lists: one internal and one public, “supposedly with the purpose of not giving information to the enemy, nor affecting the influx of tourism to the Island.”
At the time of the visit, a nurse allowed this reporter to observe through a glass in the Intensive Care Unit Diannelis Camejo, 26 years old, diagnosed with bronchopneumonia, but with hemorrhage, high fever, low platelets, bruises, artificial respiration, severe abdominal pain and blood in vomit, urine, and stool.
In response to the complaints of friends and mourners, an employee explained that like the family members, they “were also bothered by the deception and the conditions in which the patients remain hospitalized: without mosquito nets, without medicines and without being separated according to their suffering”.
Another doctor said that “at least Richard Daniel’s case was made public, because in this hospital all the cases of serious infections in the province are stored, most of the deceased are not even classified and in the best of cases their sarcophagi are sealed and they go directly and silently to the tombs.”
Social networks are also scenes of rejection against this institution. Generally, Internet users point out errors in the diagnoses and distrust their forensic opinions, because coincidentally the patients die of “bronchopneumonia.”
Francisco Durán, national director of Epidemiology of the Ministry of Public Health, recognized that The health context of Santiago de Cuba is so complex which forced massive fumigation to be carried out in the town of Boniato.
In an attempt to increase the credibility of the sector, but without updating the numbers of infested people or the number of deaths, Durán said that Tuberculosis, Covid-19, Oropouche fever and other viruses circulate in the territory (in addition to the four strains of dengue).
Second Front: epicenter of dengue in the mountains
The death of Richard Daniel Nieves Chaveco not only shocked the university students and residents of Mayarí Arriba, but also uncovered the serious health situation that affects the municipality of Segundo Frente.
This territory, considered General Raúl Castro’s bunker, has ceased to be “the little cup of gold” that politicians made up to become one of the epicenters of dengue in the mountains of Cuba, whose official information even doctors describe as “inaccurate” and the population as fraudulent.
Although the official press omits it, since the beginning of the year The situation of the 55 offices located in these hills is complicated and no improvements are seen in terms of contagion and spread of the disease.
Residents and doctors living in this area of the Sierra Cristal confirmed that Not only are several dengue outbreaks reported there, but the state’s lack of will to address the farmers’ emergencies prevails.
“Both in the Ambrosio Grillo Hospital and in the Emilio Bárcena There is a lack of resources, but there are plenty of threats so that no one uploads photos of the atrocities to social networks.“said Lupe, a local mother who has her son with dengue and they report it as acute bronchitis.
“It’s a pleasure to go to the Mayarí hospital, the patient has to bring everything. To get tested you have to throw a tantrum. The doctors don’t even examine you,” Patricio commented when summarizing the health disaster in those hills.
Other farmers living in San Benito, Soledad and Tumba Siete confirm that there is hardly time to tend to the coffee and other agricultural tasks, which become the basic sustenance of the families, since most are in bed with dengue or Oropouche fever.
According to Alipio, the forestry driver, “here everyone fights as best they can for their lives and no one does anything to stop the peasants from self-medicating with the few antibiotics and painkillers they get.”
While Raúl Castro was visibly and actively involved in the political and governmental life of Cuba, even the distribution of food that the locals received was differentiated and exclusive. Now Mayarí is a forgotten and almost filthy place in the heart of the second mountain range of the Island.
