Dennis Domínguez, father of the young Cuban Lester Domínguez Ortiz, publicly announced on Facebook that the family has decided to stop seeking help from the Cuban regime to obtain a humanitarian visa and that, if the time comes, they will leave the country on their own, even by boat.
"We are not going to beg the failed and corrupt government anymore," Dennis wrote in his post. The message, filled with frustration and resignation, acknowledges that Lester risks becoming paralyzed or losing his life, but concludes with a phrase that sums up the family's exhaustion: "Whatever God wants."
The father also expressed gratitude to those who have supported his son's cause over the years, and he closed his message with a blessing for all the followers.
The case of Lester carries a three-year history marked by institutional neglect. In March 2023, when he was 16 years old, he was attacked with a machete in San Germán, Holguín, during a robbery in which his phone was stolen. The blow to his neck caused an incomplete C5 spinal cord injury that left him in a wheelchair, and his recovery involved mechanical ventilation, a tracheotomy, bedsores, pneumonia, and bacterial infections.
In August 2025, doctors in Cuba confirmed that there was a possible surgical intervention to correct an inverted vertebra that compresses the spinal cord, but the operation was never carried out. The collapse of the Cuban healthcare system, with a waiting list of up to 96,000 people, and the lack of resources prevented it from happening. Lester turned 20 years old on July 1, 2026, without having undergone the surgery.
The family resumed the fundraising campaign after overcoming an especially painful episode: in early August, a woman identified as Loraine, from Las Vegas, contacted Lester and claimed to have secured a humanitarian visa for him. The authenticity of the document was called into question, and the associated donation campaign was reported as fraudulent.
Lester himself acknowledged the situation in a video: "It seems that I am being victimized by a scam. I don't have anything certain, I don't have proof, but everything is a bit confusing."
According to Dennis, the over $13,000 raised in that campaign could be recovered after the account was frozen, although this information comes exclusively from the father and has not been independently verified. On August 20, the family relaunched a new campaign on GoFundMe with the goal of raising the necessary funds for surgery in the United States, estimated at at least $30,000.
Dennis also described his son's emotional state after the alleged scam incident: "Now the child is devastated."
The father has reported on multiple occasions that the family has been without any type of government assistance for over a year, despite official statements regarding support for vulnerable cases. The wheelchair that Lester used before receiving a donation was so damaged that it broke and caused injuries to his hand.
"Blessings to all who have supported the cause of little Lester, blessings and may God bless him, amen," Dennis concluded in his post, sounding like a definitive end to any hope placed in the regime.
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