Activist Maikel Herrera Bones is facing a complicated health situation, and he reported this on his social media profiles, where he only asked for visibility for his case, assuring that he would handle the rest with the strength he had left.
In a Facebook post, Bones explained that he has been waiting for a bed for five days to be transferred from the Manuel Fajardo Clinical Surgical University Hospital to the Pedro Kourí Institute of Tropical Medicine, better known as IPK, in Havana.
"Today is the fourth day of waiting and agony, to see if they allow me to get treatment at the IPK," wrote the political prisoner and also a member of the Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU) and promoter of Cuba Decide.
He recalled that he has been HIV positive since 2012 and that he currently has only 6% CD4 (referring to CD4 T lymphocytes, a type of white blood cell that helps fight infections), which is so low that he is at risk of contracting any disease.
He also added that there are suspicions that he may have tuberculosis and dengue, as he has had a fever for more than two months and has lost 22 pounds.
"They have me here in Fajardo, putting water in my veins, waiting for a supposed bed at IPK for a new treatment," he reported.
Herrera Bones is a frontline opponent of the Cuban dictatorship. In 2019, he walked all along 23rd Street in protest against police abuses.
The opposition supporter stood in front of the iconic Habana Libre hotel with a sign written on a cardboard box that said: "Corrupt and pimp police. Down with corruption."
On April 15, 2020, he was detained at night while protesting against a blackout in his community. Shortly after, around midnight, he was released. The next day, officers from the National Revolutionary Police (PNR) took him in a patrol car to the Eleventh Police Unit, located in the San Miguel del Padrón municipality.
He was released in November 2020, freed from the Güines prison for HIV patients.
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