HAVANA.- In a small square Havanathe Cuban boy Juan José Guilarte He runs and jumps like any 10-year-old, although he has a prosthesis on his left leg. His dream of being a Paralympic athlete is on hold due to surgery that has not yet been scheduled, due to the energy crisis on the island.
Juan José was born with a congenital malformation: his left leg only developed to the femur and the kneecap, but that condition never stopped him, according to his family.
He lives with his mother, Sheila Guilarteand his grandmother, and from a very young age he shows inexhaustible energy. He runs, plays various sports and talks non-stop about his future plans.
“I want to be a YouTuber, an athlete, a scientist or a teacher,” says the little boy.
In his room, between notebooks and a small blackboard where he writes and draws, he has a figure of Spider-Manone of his favorite superheroes. “I like him because he is very fast and jumps a lot,” he explains.
He also likes to dance and follows FC Barcelonaalthough his enthusiasm rarely remains on a single topic. “He loves to talk, talk and talk. Anything that involves imagining, creating, saying things,” summarizes his mother.
“He has such great self-esteem that he is never bad, he never feels sad,” she adds proudly.
Growing up hurts
Since he was two years old, he has undergone three surgeries, essential to monitor his growth and prevent the development of the femur from breaking the skin of the stump, which would cause unbearable pain. After each surgical intervention, you need a new prosthesis, adapted to your height and weight.
His surgery was scheduled for January, but was postponed due to lack of anesthesia. Now, the energy crisis that the country is experiencing adds waiting time to its operation.
On the island of 9.6 million inhabitants, the health system has seriously deteriorated in recent years due to the economic crisis and the tightening of US sanctions.
The situation worsened even more since the imposition, at the end of January, by Washingtonof an oil blockade that forced the authorities to adopt emergency measures and postpone non-urgent surgical interventions.
According to data from Ministry of Public Healthsome 96,000 Cubans, including 11,000 children, are waiting for a new date to undergo surgeries.
While Juan José’s is being defined, the little boy continues training, although he complains of discomfort, since the prosthesis no longer fits well and the growth of the femur causes him “a lot of pain.”
Twice a week he practices modern pentathlon, an Olympic discipline that combines fencing, swimming, obstacle running and laser run (running plus laser gun shooting), and twice a week kung-fu.
Before training he changes his usual prosthesis for a sports one. “Sometimes I put it on the first time,” but other times “I have to try it many times,” he says.
“I want to have surgery now,” he says before starting a kung-fu class in his school yard.
“Gold medal”
The carbon-strap sports prosthesis he wears was donated by an American boy with a similar disability who visited Cuba in 2023 with his family, with the intention of giving the device to a minor who needed it.
Friends and neighbors of the Guilarte family read the donation announcement on social networks and notified Juan José’s mother. Days later, both children met in Havana and managed to talk with the help of an interpreter, according to the mother.
“Without that prosthesis he wouldn’t be able to train like he does today,” he says.
The prosthetic socket has a small Cuban flag attached to it. It is not a casual ornament. “He, since he was little, said that he was going to go to the Paralympics to win a medal” and the technician who fitted him with the last prosthesis placed the flag there, the mother remembers.
Next school year, if the pending surgery allows it, Juan José will begin sixth grade at a sports school. Although his goal is clear now: “I want to win a gold medal.”
