The activists who arranged the trip had not reported the critical nature of his condition so as not to complicate the process.
14ymedio, Havana, March 12, 2025 — Ten-year-old Damir Ortiz Ramírez, who is suffering from a serious illness, arrived Wednesday morning at Nicklaus Children’s Hospital in Miami for treatment. Activists who arranged the trip said they had not disclosed the seriousness of his condition so as not to complicate the trip. “We had to get him away from the dictatorship,” they explained in a statement made a few hours after his arrival.
The air ambulance that transported him and his mother to Florida landed in the U.S. at 6:34 AM. “Our boy is now in the hospital,” reported activist and Miami resident Diasniurka Salcedo Verdecia on social media.
On Tuesday Salcedo reported that she had purchased the medical insurance needed to pay for the boy’s treatment at Nicklaus Children’s Hospital, which also covered his transport to the U.S. “All that’s left is for Cuba to issue clearance for the airlift and to pick him up,” she stated. That permission was granted early Wednesday morning. The aircraft departed Fort Lauderdale Airport at 12:44 AM and arrived on the island less than an hour later.
In a joint appearance with activist Aylín Díaz and physician Miguel Ángel Ruano, Salcedo stated that $64,093 in donations had been raised. Of that, the $6,629 at the current exchange rate remained in Cuba but would would be submitted to the family. The aerial transport fee, which would normally have been over $41,800, ended up only costing $26,000. “Anyone who made a donation and believes there is discrepancy can call me, show me what they donated, and I will reimburse them,” said Salcedo.
During his last hours in Havana, Damir faced an obstacle: a shortage of type A-positive blood for the constant transfusions that his body required. A group of people got together outside the Havana Blood Bank and managed to find sixty-two people willing to donate.
It was not the first time that Damir’s case required a large mobilization in just a few hours
It was not the first time that Damir’s case required a large mobilization in just a few hours. Days earlier, after the family’s issued an appeal for funds to cover the approximately $41,800 cost of airlifting the boy to the United States, the amount was been raised in just over 24 hours through various apps such as Zelle, PayPal, and Cashapp. Donors in Cuba transferred money in pesos and freely convertible currency (MLC) to the child’s mother’s bank cards.
Damir suffers from plexiform fibromatosis type 1, a genetic mutation that produces tumors throughout the body. He was also diagnosed with acute leukemia, known as Burkitt’s lymphoma, in February. At that time, Ramírez and an independent organization, Gremio Médico Libre Cubano, accused the island’s Public Health Service of making errors in two biopsies that may have prevented his illness from being diagnosed sooner.
In 2023 Ramirez protested outside the Ministry of Health to call attention to the situation, which aroused international attention. Today, Damir is on a ventilator and cannot see or walk.
In 2023 Ramirez protested outside the Ministry of Health to call attention to the situation
Last week, Washington issued Damir a visa to travel to the United States. He had been denied it twice this year due to the lack of a document required by the Cuban Public Health Service. The family had requested a humanitarian visa for him starting in 2023. At that time, the tumor was already protruding from his eye and was operable, but the Cuban doctor who could perform the procedure, according to Salcedo, had traveled to Germany and “stayed.”
At the beginning of this month, his deteriorating health already required special arrangements for his transfer, and the use of an air ambulance was essential to ensure the child’s condition didn’t worsen on the way to Miami. Nicklaus Children’s Hospital has previously treated Cuban children with serious or terminal illnesses.
The Cuban Public Health Department’s position is that Damir’s illness has no cure and that they can only provide him with palliative care, for which, they claim, the State spent $500,000 on medication. Other members of the regime, such as Humberto López, gave the case a political angle and accused Ramírez of “manipulating” his son’s situation.
Ramírez, for his part, along with the Cuban Institute for Freedom of Expression and the Press (Iclep), announced the creation of the Damir Foundation “to defend the rights of the sick in Cuba,” provide them with legal support, and offer advice.
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