HAVANA, Cuba.- Last Sunday, the National News on Cuban television broadcast a video published by the official website Reasons for Cuba in which they exposed the alleged political manipulation carried out by the American senator Marco Rubio in the case of seven-year-old Jorge Esteban Reina Llerena, who is suffering from leukemia and whose parents requested a humanitarian visa for the United States.
The video featured interventions by a doctor and the director of the Institute of Hematology and Immunology in Havana, who stated that the child has received “appropriate” treatment in the Cuban health system and that the lack of medicines and medical supplies is due to the American “blockade.”
So much Reasons for Cuba as the official site Cubadebate They also stated that Marco Rubio’s “intentions” “seem to go beyond humanitarian concern for Jorgito” and “his focus on criticizing the Cuban health system can be interpreted as an attempt to turn a life-or-death issue into a political tool.”
Although the news of the urgent need for a humanitarian visa for Jorgito – because he needs a bone marrow transplant that is not performed in Cuba – was published by CubaNet More than a month ago, the media cited stated the official version only after Senator Rubio intervened and managed to get the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) to) will mark the case as “priority” and speed it up.
The senator has not issued any official statements on the matter, only his mediation has been revealed through statements from the family, which has published copies of the email communication with Rubio’s office and the response from USCIS. However, the Cuban government has manipulated the family’s grief to, supposedly, expose the “aggressiveness” of the American politician and “how foreign policies have contributed to the health crisis in Cuba.”
“Enough manipulation”
Following this exposure in national media, Jorgito’s parents have reacted and rejected the media manipulation.
“It is shameful to see that the Cuban authorities have given a political twist to all management of life expectancy (…) Enough of so much manipulation and distortion of what is being proposed. Let us respect the pain that we suffer as parents and as a family, that you have dared to publicize something that none of your parents have given you authorization to do,” said the father, Jorge Reina Pallarols, in a statement. publication made on your Facebook profile.
Reina Pallarols said that “the shortages and needs that the people are suffering today” are not due to the “so-called blockade.” “Stop looking for someone to blame for all your inefficiencies,” she said.
The minor’s mother, Arlety Llerena Martínez, told CubaNet that, by making the case of the minor public, they never intended to link it to politics but rather to draw attention to it so that the United States immigration authorities would approve the humanitarian visa as soon as possible.
Llerena Martínez explained that, at the suggestion of people familiar with these types of procedures, the child’s father, a resident of the United States, contacted Senator Rubio’s office to ask for help. They responded promptly and, in turn, contacted USCIS to inform them of the urgency of the case.
The father did so because it is his right as a citizen, as well as the duty of politicians to respond to the needs of their voters, the mother explained. Both parents are grateful for Marco Rubio’s mediation.
“I just want him to be saved”
Arlety Llerena also pointed out that the regime’s video suggests that they rejected the Cuban treatment when that is not true. “My child has had several relapses, the only solution is a bone marrow transplant, which is not performed in Cuba, so we are looking for options outside of Cuba and he has already been admitted to the Nicklaus Children’s Hospital in Miami.”
The mother explained that prior to the transplant, the child must undergo an invasive treatment that they refused to perform in Cuba because, ultimately, this is not where the operation would be performed.
“In order for him to be treated in another country, he cannot be undergoing treatment, and so, if we accept this invasive treatment, he cannot travel due to the critical conditions it causes in the child. That is why we denied the treatment since he was accepted at the hospital in Miami, where the bone marrow transplant can be performed.”
“I just want my son to be saved,” the mother argued.
For his part, Jorge Reina said he was “hurt” and “outraged” by the “political visions and projections” expressed by the Cuban regime: “You are the only ones who have made such a political connection,” he said, while he is only seeking a humanitarian visa that represents his son’s only hope of life.
