Cuban Government Labels Story of Leukemia-Stricken Child Awaiting U.S. Visa as "Manipulation"

The Cuban government has labeled the dissemination of the story of seven-year-old Jorge Esteban Reina Llerena, a child suffering from leukemia and awaiting a humanitarian visa to the United States for a bone marrow transplant, as "manipulation." The case was brought to light by CiberCuba in August.

In a report broadcast during prime time this Sunday, the state-run National News Television tried to convince viewers that the case of young Jorgito, who has been suffering from acute lymphoblastic leukemia since he was two years old and whose health has deteriorated to the point where a bone marrow transplant is the only option to save him, has been distorted and "politicized."

Doctors at the Institute of Hematology and Immunology, where the child has been receiving treatment, informed the mother that they had done everything possible to cure him and that the only solution was a transplant, but there are no "conditions" to perform it in Cuba.

Government's Response to Social Media Outcry

The NTV report, lasting four minutes and eight seconds and accompanied by a suspenseful musical score, announced from the outset that it would reveal the story of the young patient "after manipulation" on social media, using images of the child that were not authorized by the family.

The report includes interviews with Dr. Gustavo Barroso, presented as the child's doctor, and Dr. Wilfredo Roque García, director of the Institute, who confirm the details of the child's illness, the severity of his condition, and the risky treatments and protocols to which he has been subjected—information already published by our site and other media outlets.

Barroso explained that the child was receiving low-intensity chemotherapy due to the family's efforts to obtain a humanitarian visa for treatment abroad, as it is not possible in Cuba. The doctors acknowledged that a transplant is the only alternative for a full remission of the disease and thus to save his life.

In recent weeks, Jorgito's parents have accelerated efforts to obtain a humanitarian visa that would allow him and his mother, Arlety Llerena Martínez, to travel to the United States. At the end of August, Jorge Pastor Reina Pallarols, the child's father who resides in the United States, contacted the office of Cuban-American Senator Marco Rubio to present his case. After CiberCuba interviewed the child's mother, who lives with him in Havana, she pleaded with U.S. authorities to expedite the humanitarian visa process, as without the bone marrow transplant, her son will not survive.

Interestingly, the NTV report aired just a week after it was announced that Senator Rubio had managed to get the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to prioritize the case, allowing the child to travel to Florida, where Nicklaus Children's Hospital is prepared to perform the surgery.

In the report, the director of the Institute of Hematology admitted that Jorgito's case "is not the first" of its kind, as several parents seek humanitarian visas or take other steps to travel abroad for treatment. This has become increasingly common as the Cuban healthcare system's crisis worsens.

However, Roque pointed out that the patient was previously denied a U.S. visa and emphasized that "in this second instance," the case appears to have "escalated to the political realm." He argued that if it were a humanitarian visa for a patient they want to help, "like other countries do, they give the visa, the child leaves, gets treated, without any political intervention," alluding to Senator Rubio's efforts to prioritize Jorgito's case.

After learning of the child's critical condition, Rubio's office contacted USCIS, and within two weeks, the family received a response from Immigration—accessed by CiberCuba—confirming that Jorgito's case had been deemed "priority" and was pending review by immigration authorities.

The Cuban television report intersperses, at various moments, excerpts from an interview with Llerena, Jorgito's mother, in which she details her son's illness and health condition and explains why the family decided to seek a humanitarian visa without questioning the medical protocols applied to her son at the health institution.

The images belong to an interview Llerena gave to the news portal CubaNet, which the state-run newscast reproduced, even keeping the watermark with the independent media's logo.

Additionally, at several points, the NTV report flashes captures from alternative sites and social media—including from Jorgito's mother—that reproduced news about the child, particularly Rubio's efforts, perhaps to reinforce the idea of the supposed manipulation of the case, which is not substantiated in the four-plus-minute video.

In a Facebook post this Sunday, Jorgito's mother expressed anger over the report's airing, saying it was done without her consent.

"Given the shocking news that my case was the headline of the national newscast, I want to say that I feel outraged because it was without my consent," Llerena emphasized, adding that she "respects opinions, opinions, and everything they want to express."

She clarified in her post that whoever "studies the case will know that after two invasive chemotherapy treatments, where no remission was achieved, after two testicular relapses, another treatment leaves a 10% chance of survival. Accepting that treatment does not guarantee a real chance of survival for my son, nor the possibility of a bone marrow transplant, as we do not have that option at the institute where the child is treated."

She also explained why they refused another chemotherapy treatment at the Institute of Hematology: "For him to be treated in another country, he cannot be on ongoing treatment; if we accepted that invasive treatment, he could not travel due to the critical conditions it causes. That's why we refused the treatment, as he was accepted at Nicklaus Children's, where the bone marrow transplant can be performed, which is the only chance for a higher percentage of cure."

Llerena concluded her message resoundingly: "I just want my son to be cured, to be saved, and to be able to go through life as a healthy human being."