Perspectivas / Perspectives

The non-governmental organization CubaArchive.org released this report on the state of health in Cuba, which we reproduce below."

Cuba’s healthcare crisis deepens 8 years after mass manslaughter at Mazorra

Jan. 26.– In January, we especially remember the victims of a tragedy that should have never happened. On January 11th and 12th 2010, more than two dozen patients died of hypothermia at Havana’s Psychiatric Hospital known as “Mazorra.” The weather had turned unseasonably cold, with temperatures dropping to around 40 degrees F (4.4 degrees C). The facility had many broken and missing windows and the 2,500 severely malnourished and barely-clothed patients had no blankets.

After human rights’ defenders in Cuba alerted international public opinion, reporting close to 40 victims, the Ministry of Public Health issued a statement reporting 26 deaths and later declared that those responsible would be held accountable for the “failure to adopt timely measures to safeguard patients.” A security operative was put in place surrounding the hospital, its workers were instructed to stay silent, and no information was provided on the many patients hospitalized in critical condition.

The photographs in this report were taken at the Havana morgue where the bodies were delivered, then smuggled out of Cuba. 

El máximo órgano judicial frena la decisión de Morales, que pretendía expulsar a la misión de diplomáticos que lucha contra la impunidad en el país desde 2007

Ciudad Guatemala, Ene. 9.– Una vez más, la Corte de Constitucionalidad (CC) enmendó la plana al presidente de Guatemala, Jimmy Morales, y le impidió expulsar del país a la Comisión Internacional Contra la Impunidad (CICIG), un órgano de la ONU que se encarga de investigar los casos de corrupción. Tras ocho horas de deliberaciones, el Pleno de Magistrados de la CC aprobó por mayoría y con el único voto disidente de la Presidenta, Dina Ochoa, "dejar en suspenso" la decisión de Morales de dar por terminado de manera "anticipada y unilateral" el acuerdo entre la ONU y el Gobierno de Guatemala relativo al establecimiento de la CICIG.

De esta manera, la CC otorgó cinco amparos provisionales solicitados por abogados y por la Procuraduría de los Derechos Humanos en contra del Presidente de Guatemala, la ministra de Relaciones Exteriores, Sandra Jovel, y el Congreso, que pretendían expulsar a la CICIG del país bajo el argumento de que ha "vulnerado los derechos humanos" de guatemaltecos y extranjeros a través de su "Justicia selectiva".