US blockade on Cuba affects assistance to people with disabilities

HOLGUIN, Cuba, May 24 (ACN) Daniel Ernesto Leyva Almaguer is one of the children with disabilities in the province of Holguin(eastern region) whose quality of life has been affected as a result of the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the United States on Cuba.

At 10 years old and benefiting from the facilities of ambulatory education in his home in the Hermanos Aguilera community, in the capital city, he faces the limitations to change his wheelchair, necessary for a better mobility and assistance to the rehabilitation therapies in the treatment of infantile cerebral paralysis.

Yaima Almaguer, mother of the boy, said that the blockade hinders the family's daily life and although the Cuban government has not been lacking in support and attention, if the blockade did not exist, Daniel could have greater access to these means with advanced technology to provide him with greater comfort.

Alfonso Bermudez, vice president of the Cuban Association of the Physically and Motor Handicapped, told the Cuban News Agency that this inhumane policy limits the delivery program of these components and the manufacture of means of support, which require raw materials from the United States for their construction.

He also said that in addition to the above problems, there are the high costs of importing the necessary equipment for the comprehensive rehabilitation of people with disabilities, which begins in Cuba from early childhood to adulthood and constitutes one of the main achievements of the Revolution in human rights.

In more than six decades, the blockade has caused losses to Cuba in excess of 147,8 billion dollars, also materialized in the form of impediments to the acquisition of hearing aids with advanced technology, batteries and spare parts, alarm equipment for the deaf, means of support and specialized prostheses.

Despite the economic blockade, the Caribbean island provides constitutional guarantees to these people, such as access to health, education, decent employment, rehabilitation programs and social assistance to improve their quality of life.