Cuba: a dissident artist imprisoned on hunger strike

Cuban dissident artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcantara, imprisoned since he tried to join the anti-government protests on July 11, 2021, has started a hunger strike and is demanding his release, his partner announced on Friday. "Luis Manuel Otero Alcantara declares himself on hunger and thirst strike before the second anniversary of the 11J protests" and "demands his release", says in a message on Facebook the activist Claudia Genlui, exiled in the United States .

The 35-year-old artist was sentenced in June 2022 to five years in prison for insulting the symbols of the fatherland, contempt and disturbing public order. According to Claudia Genlui, this is the "sixth" hunger strike of Luis Manuel Otero Alcantara imprisoned in the high security prison of Guanajay, in the province of Artemisa (center). The artist had been arrested on July 11, 2021 when he left his home in Havana to join the demonstrations during which thousands of Cubans had expressed their anger with cries of “We are hungry”, “Down with the dictatorship” .

The dissident artist, who had not appealed, “refuses to accept prison as destiny, refuses to accept the endless bars, the stone beds, the white light that is never extinguished, the 20 minutes of telephone calls by week, family visits once a month and under close supervision,” added Claudia Genlui.

In May, Amnesty International asked Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel for the "immediate and unconditional" release of Luis Manuel Otero Alcantara, considered by the human rights organization to be a "prisoner of conscience", as well as that of “all people unjustly imprisoned” on the communist island. A month earlier, the artist, whose release was also demanded by the United States, had asked for an answer to be given to him after he had accepted a government proposal to leave the country, according to Claudia Genlui.

For the government, Luis Manuel Otero Alcantara is not an artist, but an agent in the service of the United States to destabilize the country. For eleven days, Cuban opponent Guillermo Fariñas, 61 and 2020 Sakharov Prize winner from the European Parliament, has also been on a hunger strike at his home to demand, among other things, the release of all political prisoners.