The lack of specialized medical attention puts the health of the political prisoner, Yoel Ibzan Sandino Ibarra, at risk, denounces his mother Yamilet Ibarra, who demands that the authorities of the Jorge Navarro Penitentiary System, known as La Modelo, allow him to attend a neurological evaluation and performing an MRI to follow up on the congenital cyst lodged in the right side of his head.
“I am worried because the specialist doctor, the neurologist, has not yet assessed me for the pathology of the congenital cyst that he has in his head, which has already exceeded the time that the doctor sends him his checkup to assess the growth of the cyst”, says mother.
In August 2021 an MRI revealed that Sandino, 25, had a coin-sized cyst on his head. That was the cause of migraines, high blood pressure, dizziness, and double vision that the young man suffered without an apparent explanation. The doctor recommended closely monitoring his problem and getting a full checkup every six months, primarily to assess the size of the cyst.
However, in prison it has been impossible to follow medical recommendations. His mother points out that on November 25, 2021, Sandino had an appointment at the Antonio Lenín Fonseca hospital, which was managed by District Two of the Police -where he was taken when he was captured on Friday, November 5, 2021- but they didn’t show it.
The cyst measured four centimeters according to the last checkup, but currently he does not know what has happened and he fears that it has grown due to “all this pressure that they have unfairly put my son through,” he says. If the cyst continues to grow, Ibarra points out that a delicate operation is likely to be required, which is why constant review is important. In addition, the youngster must be calm, relaxed, but that is not easy in a penalty. “My concern is his health, the confinement does him a lot of damage,” says his mother.
Sandino was captured during the latest wave of repression by the Ortega regime against political leaders, civil society leaders, and dissident voices. The young man was sentenced to eleven years and six months in prison plus a fine of 42,000 córdobas for the crimes of “undermining national integrity” and “propagation of false news.” The accusation of the Prosecutor’s Office was based on publications that Sandino made from the Free Minds page, which he created in 2018 to denounce human rights violations by the State against citizens.
“As a mother, I am extremely concerned and my son’s health is urgent,” she adds, who fears that the symptoms caused by the cyst will also increase. In prison they receive the package and their medicines. However, he has restrictions on some visits, since they have not authorized a card for his brothers, despite the fact that they have requested it repeatedly.
No access to health care
Sandino’s case is not the only one. The last weekend, relatives of political prisoner Bryan Alemán They denounced that he had “serious health problems” and the authorities of La Modelo did not authorize adequate medical care. The relatives of the prisoners of conscience, grouped in different organizations, have jointly pointed out the lack of medical attention and the refusal, in some cases, of the delivery of medicines that is experienced in the prisons.
The anguish grew among the relatives of the political prisoners imprisoned in the different jails in the country, including the Directorate of Judicial Assistance, El Chipote, after the death in captivity of the former guerrilla Hugo Torres Jiménez, a retired brigadier general and also a political prisoner of the regime. by Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo, on February 11.
