Lester Domínguez Ortiz, the young man from Holguín who was left paralyzed after receiving a machete blow to the neck in 2023, received an electric wheelchair donated by Cubans living in the United States on Tuesday, while the Cuban healthcare system continues to deny him the surgery he needs to survive.
The chair was donated by Lester Fleites, a Cuban-American citizen, and the shipment was coordinated by Yunior González, also from the diaspora. The independent humanitarian activist Noly Blak, from Holguín, was the one who facilitated the process and documented the delivery in a video that was widely shared on Facebook.
Lester could not contain his excitement upon receiving the chair. "I feel good. Very good, I feel happy. Just today, not even an hour ago, this chair arrived and you have no idea the happiness I feel," he stated.
According to what he said, the joy was so overwhelming that he couldn't even finish eating: "She arrived, and the moment she did, the emotion left me unable to finish my meal. It took away my hunger."
The young man also expressed his gratitude directly to those who made the gesture possible: "May God truly bless you."
Lester's father, Dennis Domínguez, expressed his gratitude on Facebook, where he mentioned that the new chair will help improve his son's quality of life, and noted that the next challenge is to secure the operation for the inverted vertebra.
However, the medical situation is bleak: in the video, Lester's aunt detailed that the doctors already have the surgical resources for the operation (which the family gathered on their own). Nevertheless, no one is telling them anything about the surgery. "The hospitals are at a standstill (...) there is no operating room," she said, referring to the collapse of operating theaters in Cuba.
Lester was 16 years old when, in March 2023, in San Germán, Holguín, a man struck him in the neck with a machete to steal a damaged Huawei phone with a broken screen.
The incomplete C5 spinal cord injury left him in a wheelchair. Since then, he has overcome mechanical ventilation, tracheostomy, pressure sores, pneumonia, and bacterial infections.
He turned 20 years old on July 1 while waiting for a surgery that the Cuban state has been unable -or unwilling- to provide for him.
Spinal compression is progressing uncontrollably. "My spinal cord is compressing, and I am losing the use of my hands. I can no longer operate this chair", the young man warned in a video recorded less than a month ago.
Without surgical intervention, doctors warn that the situation could lead to arthritis and block any possibility of rehabilitation.
The government has not provided any kind of assistance regarding the case for over a year.
Dennis Domínguez, the child's father, has stated bluntly: "My son has gone over a year without any kind of help from the government, and this is how they claim to support vulnerable cases and those in greater need. They should stop deceiving the people."
With bitter irony, the man also questioned the official narrative: "A medical power, where the child is in danger for his life with that inverted vertebra that has not been operable."
The wheelchair arrived thanks to the solidarity of the Cuban-American diaspora. The operation that could save Lester's life is still waiting for a state that the father describes in three words: "The child is alive by a miracle."
The health collapse that condemns Lester is not an isolated case. Cuba has, in 2026, a surgical waiting list of up to 96,000 people, including 11,000 children, with surgeries limited to emergencies due to a lack of electricity and resources.
Hurricane Melissa, in November 2025, further worsened the situation by damaging 461 health facilities in eastern Cuba, including Holguín.
Noly Blak concluded the video of the delivery with a thought directed at those who choose the path of crime: "Money runs out, but your guilty conscience will last forever; it's not worth it."
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