Mexico City, Mexico — A prominent Cuban artist and opposition leader, Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, has been released by the Cuban government after five years in prison and has been sent into exile in the United States.
The dissident finished his sentence on July 9, but remained in the custody of political police until his humanitarian parole request was approved by U.S. authorities. He then flew to Miami, where he was welcomed by a crowd of friends, fellow activists and admirers, who chanted the national anthem.
In his first statements to the press, he urged those who can help to make Cuba free, saying, “One minute of work is one minute less of dictatorship.”
Before arriving in the United States, he had planned to stage a performance in the Ermita de la Caridad del Cobre, a sacred place for the Cuban community in South Florida. The performance involved reassembling a broken Our Lady of Charity, Cuba’s patron saint and a powerful symbol of unity for the islanders.
According to eyewitnesses, the event drew a large crowd, with people from all generations waiting to meet Otero Alcántara and the table where the Virgin was displayed.
Otero Alcántara was arrested on July 11, 2021, amid the biggest nationwide protests since 1959. He was sentenced to five years in prison for public disorder, contempt and desecration of national symbols.
The activist was initially set to be released on July 9, but after that date came and went, activists and opposition media began denouncing his imprisonment, calling it a forced disappearance.
The Cuban government had claimed that Otero Alcántara was not a “political opposer or a human rights defender” but a “common criminal sentenced by the Cuban justice.” However, his activism primarily consisted of artistic performances that denounced and criticized the Cuban government and its political repression.
