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Mailene Nogueras Santiesteban, political spokesperson for the events of July 11, 2021, reported this Tuesday that her father has been at the Polyclinic of Batabanó in the province of Mayabeque for over 12 hours, suffering from a heart attack and a thrombus, without being able to be transferred to an intensive care unit due to a lack of beds.
"My dad has been in a clinic in Batabanó for 12 hours with a heart attack and a clot, and there is no bed in intensive care to transfer him," Mailene wrote in her public complaint, in which she recounted that her father was admitted at 10:30 p.m. on Monday with a diagnosis that requires urgent attention in intensive care.
A thrombus is a blood clot that can move and cause sudden death if not treated promptly in a specialized unit. Combined with an infarction, the situation poses a direct life-threatening risk to the patient.
The photograph accompanying the report shows an elderly man with an oxygen mask, cardiac monitoring electrodes, an intravenous catheter, and a blood pressure monitor, with a heart rate of 105 beats per minute. The surroundings exhibit peeling walls and a dirty floor.
Mailene acknowledged the efforts of the medical staff, but pointed out that the root of the problem is structural: "The doctors have done what they can with what they have. I do not blame them. The reality is different: there are no beds in intensive care to transfer him. Neither in Batabanó nor in the referral hospitals."
The University Polyclinic Pascuala R. Rojas Cruz in Batabanó is a primary care facility that is not equipped to support critically ill patients for extended periods. The province of Mayabeque has 20 primary care polyclinics and only four secondary care hospitals.
The complaint is set against the backdrop of a systemic health crisis that has worsened in recent months. In July 2025, the Cuban government itself admitted that only 30% of the essential medication supply was available. The Cuban Observatory of Social Rights documented that in September 2025, only 3% of citizens could find their medications in state pharmacies.
Reference hospitals are also facing collapse. In April 2026, unsanitary conditions were reported in the intensive care unit of the Orlando Pantoja Tamayo General Hospital in Contramaestre, Santiago de Cuba. In November 2025, the Calixto García Hospital in Havana experienced a partial roof collapse. Cubalex warned that the country's hospitals are overwhelmed due to a lack of resources, personnel, and medications.
Mailene was detained on July 17, 2021, as part of the repression against the protests on July 11, and was included in the Program of Godmothers for Cuban Political Prisoners.
Her status as a former political prisoner adds an additional dimension to the denunciation: it also highlights the vulnerability faced by the families of those who were persecuted by the regime. In May 2026, Justicia 11J reported 775 political prisoners in Cuba, 338 of whom were sentenced for the protests on July 11, 2021.
"Why do we have to beg for a bed that should be a right?" Mailene asked. "I'm not asking for luxuries. I'm asking to save my father. I'm asking that no one else has to go through this."
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