Cuban independent journalist Guillermo Fariñas is suffering from dehydration, heartburn and severe joint pain today, the fifth day of a hunger strike he started to demand the Castro dictatorship release seriously ill political prisoners from its gulag.
Fariñas, who also is not ingesting liquids is confined to bed rest and being attended by a physician in Villa Clara, according to a story posted at Diario de Cuba.
Fariñas started his hunger strike on Wednesday, Feb. 24, a day after political prisoner Orlando Zapata Tamayo died after more than 80 days on hunger strike.
The effects of his protest are being aggravated by the fact that Fariñas' body has been weakened by some 20 prior hunger strikes.
He is still conscious, but Cuban blogger Laritza Diversent, who is in Villa Clara, wrote this afternoon on fellow blogger Claudia Cadelo's Twitter feed that Fariñas estimates his condition may be critical by Tuesday. Cadelo said she believes that's when he may be hospitalized.
"We have all failed trying to dissuade Fariñas from the strike," said human rights activist Elizardo Sanchez.
For more about Fariñas' protest — and why hunger strikes are so tragic — read this prior post.
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