Daughter of Almeida asks Castro to allow her father to leave for health reasons

Via Efe, translated into English:

Indira Omana, daughter of Juan Juan Almeida Garcia, the son of the deceased Cuban vicepresident Juan Almeida who has been on a hunger strike since June 15th, requested that the Cuban government allow her father to leave the island to receive medical treatment abroad.

In a statement released to the media today, Omana, who resides in Miami, Florida, explained that her father began his hunger strike because since 2003, the Cuban president, Raul Castro, has constantly refused to allow him to leave, without any explanation as to why.

Almeida blames Castro for “all repressive acts” committed against him, noted his daughter, who stressed that the only objective of her father was to “travel abroad to receive medical treatment for the degenerative illness he suffers from, a rare form of arthritis which has worsened in recent times and for which treatment does not exist in Cuba.

The other wish of Almeida, stated the press release, is to be able to reunite with his wife and daughter, who live outside of Cuba.

In 2009, Almeida, 44, son of the historic Cuban revolutionary commander, Juan Almeida Bosque, tried to leave his country illegally to reunite with his family, but failed.

Omana explained that her father, who has protested in the Plaza de la Revolución, “had to try to leave illegally from the country given the arbitrary position of the Cuban authorities.”

“dispirited by the progress of the disease, the lack of available treatment in Cuba and the continued denial of permission to leave” the country, Almeida saw it as necessary to try to leave the island, she added.

Currently, Almeida must present himself regularly at the State Security detention center Villa Marista in Habana. “He has been detained on various occasions and is subject to future detentions at any moment”, she added.

The press release concluded with a plea from his daughter and wife to the Cuban government to allow Almeida to travel abroad to receive medical treatment.

Juan Almeida, an attorney by profession, is the author of “Memories of the unknown Cuban guerilla”, which criticizes the Cuban government.

Tags: Consuelito Almeida, Cuba, Indira Omana, Juan Juan Almeida, Raul Castro