14ymedio, Havana, 28 August 2016 — Regime opponent Guillermo Fariñas received medical clearance on Saturday, after staying for several hours at the Arnaldo Milian Castro Hospital where he was taken because of his delicate state of health after 39 days on a hunger and thirst strike. The 2010 winner of the European Parliament’s Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought fainted at his home in the Chirusa neighborhood in the city of Santa Clara, as was confirmed to this newspaper by his mother, Alicia Hernandez.
On a phone call from 14ymedio’s newsroom to the observation room in the hospital, an employee confirmed that Fariñas “arrived unconscious at about three in the afternoon,” but an hour and a half later was “better as he opened his eyes.”
Alicia Hernandez said her son “recovered consciousness” and the decision about whether he should remain in the hospital or be discharged would depend on “how he reacts to treatment,” a reference to the rehydration sera administered during his stay in the observation room.
The dissident suffers severe dehydration and severe joint pain. This is the fourth time he was transferred to the hospital after fainting.
Along with his mother, several activists from the Anti-totalitarian Forum (FANTU) were also with Fariñas in the hospital.