Dennis Domínguez, father of the young Cuban Lester Domínguez Ortiz, is conducting an urgent public campaign on Facebook to obtain a humanitarian visa that would allow his son to undergo surgery in the United States to eliminate the lasting effects from the machete attack he suffered in 2023.
"I need everyone's support to see if we can operate on the child Lester for the inverted vertebra; every minute counts," Dennis wrote in his post, in which he recalls that more than three years have passed since the brutal attack that changed his son's life.
"The vertebra is compressing him to the point of leaving him paralyzed," she emphasized.
In another message, Dennis requested the help of anyone who can contribute to his son's campaign, whether through financial support or by sharing the petition on social media, "so it can reach further, any foundation that can help."
On August 20, the family relaunched a new campaign on GoFundMe, organized by Luvia Domínguez, with the goal of raising at least $11,000 to cover the surgery in the United States. At the time of this publication, only $206 has been raised.
At the end of August, Dennis announced that the family would no longer seek help from the Cuban regime. “We will not beg the failed and corrupt government anymore,” he wrote, adding that if the time came, they would leave the country on their own.
Lester was 16 years old when, on March 21, 2023, a thief slashed his neck with a machete in San Germán, Holguín, to steal his mobile phone. The resulting incomplete C5 spinal cord injury left him in a wheelchair and triggered a series of complications: mechanical ventilation, tracheostomy, pressure sores, pneumonia, and bacterial infections.
In August 2025, doctors in Cuba confirmed that the inverted vertebra is compressing the spinal cord and that there is a possible surgical intervention, but the operation never took place.
In June of last year, his father, Dennis Domínguez, stated that the family had managed to gather "all the supplies" for the surgery and was waiting for others that a relative would bring, but "the wait prolonged, and then the collapse of hospitals in Cuba occurred." "I can't say exactly where the responsibility lies, whether with the family or with the doctors," he asserted.
Days later, he again reported on Lester's situation and warned that his life was in danger. He also criticized the lack of support, stating that they had been without “any kind of help from the government” for “more than a year.” “They say they support vulnerable cases and those in greatest need; stop deceiving the people. A medical power where a child’s life is at risk with that inverted vertebra that hasn’t been able to be operated on,” he added.
Lester turned 20 years old on July 1, 2026, without having undergone surgery. In June, he himself warned in a video that the compression of his spinal cord "is killing me."
The path to surgery abroad has been marked by serious obstacles. In early August, a woman identified as Loraine, from Las Vegas, contacted the family claiming to have secured a humanitarian visa for them, but the document turned out to be fraudulent.
The family publicly reported the alleged scam and Lester himself acknowledged in a video: “It seems that I am a victim of a scam. I have nothing certain, I have no evidence, but everything is a bit confusing.”
Dennis then described his son's emotional state after that episode: "The boy is devastated."
The father has reported multiple times that the family has been without any state assistance for over a year, despite official statements regarding support for vulnerable cases.
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