Social Assistance Pension Withdrawn from Disabled Girl / Wendy Iriepa and Ignacio Estrada

Last week, the municipal authority of the Ministry of Work and Social Security of the municipality of Santo Domingo in Villa Clara province, withdrew the pension of the minor Keylis Caridad Aleman Rodriguez, 15.

Keylis Caridad Alemán Rodríguez is a disabled girl permanently in a wheelchair due to congenital malformations not detected by the Cuban health system while she was in the womb. According to Yamayki Rodríguez Cepero, the girl’s mother, the local authorities told her the pension was being withdrawn because she should go to work and support her family.

Yamayki told this reporter that she worked taking care of her daughter who needed her to do things for her. The Cuban government withdrew the cash benefit that supports this family — the mother and her two children — abandoning them to public charity. Yamayki plans to carry her claim to a higher level and reports that her daughter is not just disabled but also has had a heart operation.

Keylis Caridad Alemán Rodríguez and her mother Yamayki Rodríguez Cepero live on Agramonte Street No. 38 at the corner of Maceo in the Santo Domingo municipality, Villa Clara province.

April 8 2012