Gravely ill Cuban dissident arrives in Miami for treatment at Jackson Memorial
Xiomara Cruz Miranda, a former Cuban political prisoner and member of the opposition Ladies in White, arrived in Miami from Havana Tuesday on a U.S. humanitarian visa as she is gravely ill and will be treated at Jackson Memorial Hospital.
Cruz Miranda received the visa at the U.S. embassy in Havana, said Berta Soler, leader of the Ladies in White. The cost of her stay in the United States will be covered by the Cuban American National Foundation (CANF).
“This is a labor of the community. A number of Cuban exile organizations have collaborated to bring Xiomara to the United States to receive proper medical care. This victory is an example of what can be achieved when we exiles unite and work hand in hand,” said CANF member Cristina Canales.
Cruz Miranda was met at Miami International Airport by Cuban physician Alfredo Melgar, M.D., who told el Nuevo Herald the former political prisoner will undergo a thorough checkup by a team of doctors at Jackson.
“Xiomara will be diagnosed first, and later will undergo treatment,” said Melgar, who accompanied her to the hospital. He asked exiles to help Cruz Miranda and her daughter, who traveled with her mother from Havana.
Members of the Ladies in White living in exile as well as journalists and representatives of other dissident groups also greeted Cruz Miranda at the airport.
Cruz Miranda was sentenced to 16 months in prison in 2018 for making threats, in a trial that Soler described as “rigged.” Her daughter, also a member of the Ladies in White, said her mother only “responded to a person who was throwing rocks at the roof of her home, and that’s why she was accused of making threats.”
She was first held in the El Guatao prison in Artemisa province and later transferred to a prison in Ciego de Avila. She was diagnosed with tuberculosis by prison doctors. Her relatives and friends have accused the government of giving her the disease.
The government granted Cruz Miranda parole in August because of her precarious health. She was transferred to the La Covadonga hospital in Havana and placed under intensive care.
Two human rights organizations — the Cuban Alliance for Inclusion and the Feminine Network of Cuba — have denounced the treatment she has received in Cuba.
“The doctors have made confusing declarations, from suffering from an unidentified bacteria to mentioning even cancer, which have confused her relatives, friends and sisters in the struggle, who want her released so she can go to another country and receive urgent care,” they said in a news release issued some months back.
This story was originally published January 21, 2020 at 9:42 PM.
