Lester's Struggle: A Year of Waiting for Surgery After Brutal Machete Attack

Lester Domínguez, a young man from Holguín, Cuba, has been confined to a wheelchair since a brutal machete attack in March 2023. Recently, he broke his silence in a video shared on Facebook by content creator Noly Blak, revealing how his health continues to deteriorate without any resolution from the Cuban medical system.

In the video, Lester is seen sitting in his damaged wheelchair, the only one he's had since the attack. He stays at his aunt's house in Holguín since his hometown of San Germán lacks electricity. "I need surgery because my spinal cord is compressed and my cervical vertebrae are inverted, and this is slowly killing me," says the young man, who will turn 20 on July 1st.

The Urgent Need for Medical Assistance

Lester desperately needs a motorized wheelchair, as his condition worsens, rendering him unable to open his hands or maneuver his chair on his own, making him completely dependent on others for daily activities.

Noly Blak has made an urgent appeal for someone abroad to donate or help send a motorized wheelchair, providing Lester's personal phone number for direct contact: 54-19-99-63.

The Long Wait for Surgery

However, the most pressing issue for Lester is the surgery that remains elusive. In August 2025, doctors confirmed his eligibility for surgery. But setbacks followed: the search for a missing orthopedic brace, the devastation caused by Hurricane Melissa to health facilities in eastern Cuba, and the 2026 collapse of the healthcare system with a surgical waitlist of up to 96,000 individuals, including 11,000 children.

"I even got all my tests done; they said they'd call me, but no one has. I managed to get everything on my own. All that's left is for them to schedule the surgery and call me," Lester explains.

Recounting the Attack

Reflecting on the attack, Lester describes how it unfolded without warning: "They got me from behind, I didn't even realize. They caught me at a corner near my house. I was just walking with my phone in hand and then felt the blow."

The assault aimed to steal his phone, a damaged Huawei with a broken screen. The machete strike to his neck resulted in an incomplete C5 spinal cord injury, leaving him paralyzed.

Two attackers were involved: one, identified when Lester's phone was found buried in his yard, is serving a prison sentence after a trial where the prosecution sought 20 years for the assault plus four additional years for robbing other victims; the other perpetrator took his own life.

Family's Plea for Government Support

On June 21, Lester's father, Dennis Domínguez, publicly condemned the Cuban government's neglect: "It's been over a year without any aid from the government, and yet they claim to support vulnerable and needy individuals. Stop deceiving the people."

He also noted that his son "is alive by a miracle" after surviving mechanical ventilation, tracheotomy, bedsores, pneumonia, and other bacterial infections.

The video by Noly Blak has garnered over 109,000 views and more than 6,000 reactions, marking the first time Lester has spoken directly to the camera about the ongoing impact of the attack that left him paralyzed for a broken phone.