Fariñas ends hunger strike after seven months

From EFE News:

Cuban dissident ends 7-month hunger strike

Havana, Aug 31 (EFE).- Cuban dissident Guillermo Fariñas on Thursday decided to end the hunger strike he began seven months ago to pressure the island's Communist regime to allow him Internet access, his mother told EFE.

Alicia Hernandez said that her 43-year-old son's health had worsened in recent days because of the rigors of the hunger strike he began on Jan. 31.

Over the past several months, Fariñas — who is being monitored and provided with medical care at a hospital in the central city of Santa Clara — has been receiving intravenous nourishment to keep him alive.

A psychologist by training, Fariñas is the director of the independent news agency Cubanacan Press. He initiated his hunger strike — the latest of 20 he has staged on various matters since 1995 — in a bid to get the government to allow him Internet access in his home, a privilege denied to virtually all Cubans.

His mother, a retired nurse, said that "(Wednesday) night I saw he was in very bad shape. He was not going to be able to stand more than 72 hours in that state" and after talking by telephone with dissidents Bertha Antunez and Martha Beatriz Roque, and with neurosurgeon Hilda Molina, they managed to convince Fariñas to abandon his hunger strike.

Fariñas decided to end the strike itself "but not his demands on the government, which he will keep alive in other ways, starting the moment he finishes his recovery," according to a communique released by the banned Assembly to Promote Civil Society headed by Roque.

Hernandez said that she felt "more relieved, relaxed," although she remained worried about her son's health "because now we have to see how it progresses." "It's a treatment that takes time, seeing his body's reaction.

His recovery will not be immediate, the rehabilitation will take months, she added.

She noted that at this time Fariñas has at least two bacterial infections that are giving him a fever, and his immune system is in a weakened state.

Hernandez said Wednesday night that Fariñas was in "serious" condition and had been moved to an intensive care room in the hospital.