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The story of Ashlin Naara Perdomo Núñez once again shakes Cuba. Her mother, Yeni Núñez Jerez, reported that inspectors from the National Institute of Territorial Organization and Urbanism (INOTU) in Colón, Matanzas, forced her to demolish the room she was building for her sick daughter's therapies.
I was planning to welcome the new year 2026 with the new room ready for Ashlin's therapies. Unfortunately, just when I was about to put up the roof, the INOTU inspectors appeared as if by magic and... ¡PUFFF!, all plans were ruined: ‘an illegal construction, you have to tear it down’ and with a fine as well”, wrote Núñez in the Facebook Todos Somos Ashlin group.
The mother reported that she invested more than 300,000 Cuban pesos in the project, gathering the money “after months of working under the sun and sleepless nights taking care of Ashlin.”
However, the effort was lost amidst bureaucracy and state insensitivity. “Each blow we struck to destroy it hurt me to my bones and weighed heavily on my heart,” he confessed.
Despite explaining her daughter's medical needs, the authorities warned her that if she did not demolish, she would be fined again and face legal action.
"I ran out of strength, money, and even anxiety pills. They never asked how my little girl was doing, there were only demands for me to tear it down, or they would do it themselves.", she lamented.
Yeni compared her case to other tolerated illegalities in Colón: “I was told that the other illegalities were old and mine was new. For God's sake, how far have we come!”.
A girl who has touched Cuba since 2020
The case of Ashlin came to light in 2020, when her mother requested a humanitarian visa for her treatment in the United States. There, they confirmed that she suffered from an incurable neurodegenerative disease. Yeni and her little one returned to Cuba, and since then, this mother has faced alone the lack of medications, equipment, and medical care on the island.
In recent months, the girl has also faced a chikungunya outbreak that worsened her delicate health.
In 2026, I hope for peace for my family and for all everyday Cubans, so that no mother of a child with special needs has to shed a tear for feeling humiliated, wrote Yeni.
The Cuban regime, which has been unable to provide adequate housing or basic medications for Ashlin, now destroys the little that the family manages to build through their own efforts. Instead of offering support, it punishes. Instead of building, it demolishes the dreams of a mother who only seeks to relieve her daughter's pain.
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