A video published on Instagram tells the story of little Keyler Alcántara, a nine-year-old Cuban boy who suffers from a static injury to the central nervous system and is unable to walk, while his mother – a university-educated professional – had to leave her job to take care of him.
Keyler, who is nine years old, was born prematurely at 19 weeks of gestation and suffered a lack of oxygen to the brain during childbirth, which caused the brain injury.
The case was described by the activist Melissa, from the account "Meli creando con el corazón," who has visited the family at least twice and brings donations on each visit.
The boy underwent surgery on his adductors and Achilles tendon to lengthen the tendons, but he is still unable to move on his own. "It really hurts me when I arrive and see the boy dragging himself," confesses Meli, who describes Keyler as a loving and charismatic boy. "He captivated me with his smile," she writes in the post.
In addition to the wheelchair, Keyler needs knee pads. "The ones he was given are a bit too big and don't fit very well," explains the activist in the video.
Despite his physical limitations, the boy has a rich inner life: he enjoys watching television, listening to music, and would like to learn to play the drums. "He has a good ear for music," says his mom.
The video takes us through the small room where the child sleeps and the space where he receives his lessons, images that depict the extreme precariousness in which this family lives.
The mother had to leave her job after the child's surgery. To generate some income, she reuses bags from rice and beans to make handmade bags, weaves, backpacks, and hair braids.
"She is another Cuban woman with her degree hanging on the wall," Meli summarizes bitterly, an image that encapsulates the paradox of thousands of Cuban professionals trapped in extreme poverty.
Meli makes a direct appeal to those who want to help: "Anyone who wishes to join me with donations of food or to help buy her wheelchair can please contact me. I hope that together we can improve her quality of life a little and provide support for this family."
And it concludes with a phrase that summarizes her work: "For me, it is truly an honor to be the voice for these families that no one listens to and no one sees. Today I raise my voice for little Kayler and a wheelchair."
Keyler's case is not an exception, but rather a reflection of systematic abandonment.
The Cuban Association of Physically-Motor Limited Individuals comprises 94,000 people, of whom 14,000 use wheelchairs, but the State only distributed 3,115 units in 2025 and plans to provide just 2,000 for 2026, figures that the government itself acknowledges as insufficient. Meanwhile, the regime declares to the UN that it provides this equipment free of charge.
In September 2024, another Cuban mother publicly appealed to the government for a wheelchair for her five-year-old disabled son, necessary for him to attend school, but received no response. The pattern repeats: the State abandons these families and citizen solidarity through social networks becomes the only real mechanism for survival.
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