English Translations of Cubans Writing From the Island
14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar, Havana, 20 February 2022 Dear Luisma: The last time we spoke on the phone, I suggested that you organize a gallery with your works under the title The Day After. I felt that you liked the idea, so I took advantage and said obliquely (as if I wasn’t implying that you should abandon … Continue reading “Message to the Recruit who Watches Luis Manuel Otero Alcantara”
Boris Mijatovic, Kassel, Germany, 7 February 2022 Dear Ambassador Ripoll Diaz, I am writing to you to express my deep concern about the disturbing situation of the imprisoned artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara. The intention of this letter is to urge you to speak out in favor of his immediate release. Mr. Alcántara, as an … Continue reading “Luis Manuel Otero Alcantara, Seven Months in Prison Without Trial”
14ymedio, Havana, 26 December 2021 — Before being arrested on July 11 , without having had time to participate in the protests that day, Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, leader of the San Isidro Movement (MSI), had long been subjected to permanent harassment by the political police. Specifically, since November 26, 2020, when State Security evicted … Continue reading “Luis Manuel Otero Alcantara: One Year Harassed by Cuban State Security”
Cubalex, 10 May 2021 [please note date*] — We present a summary of our report, which you can read in its entirety at this link. The situation that Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara is going through is the result of the unequal relationship between the power of the State and that of the citizen who expresses disagreement … Continue reading “The Current Status of Luis Manuel Otero Alcantara’s Health / Cubalex”
14ymedio, Luz Escobar, Havana, 24 May 2021 — On Monday, a group of Cuban artists demanded of the director of the National Museum of Fine Arts, Jorge Fernández Torres, that all the works of their authorship be withdrawn from exhibition until Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara is released from the Calixto García Hospital in Havana, where he has … Continue reading “A Group of Cuban Artists Sign a Letter for the Release of Luis Manuel Otero Alcantara”
14ymedio, Havana, 9 March 2020 — The movement for the liberation of the artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara is growing every day and now includes ’official’ artist such as Alexis Leyva, Kcho, and Silvio Rodríguez. “Let’s stop this now, we don’t need it and Cuba’s future is not censorship,” Kcho writes in a comment posted on … Continue reading “Kcho and Other "Official" Artists Call for the Liberation of Luis Manuel Otero Alcantara”
Mario Lleonart, 16 December 2017 — Another flagrant violation of religious liberties took place in Cuba on 14 December 2017, when Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara’s pilgrimage to the San Lázaro shrine was stopped, according to information provided by his wife, Yanelys Núñez Leyva. Otero Alcántara was detained on the orders of the Cuban State Security, which is what … Continue reading “Luis Manuel Otero Alcantara’s Right to Believe and Practice His Faith / Mario Lleonart”
14ymedio, Havana, 25 December 2017 — Restless, hyperactive, media-focused and irreverent, Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara (b. 1987, Havana) turned 30 this year in the midst of an unstoppable and controversial artistic work. With his proposal With All And For The Good Of A Few he created three artistic interventions centered on the luxurious hotel Manzana Kempinski. In the … Continue reading “Cuban Faces 2017: Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara”
14ymedio, Havana, 9 November 2017 — The arrest of Cuban artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara has unleashed a wave of solidarity on the internet. The artist Tania Bruguera launched a solidarity campaign that as of Thursday exceeded 300 signatures to demand the release of the young artist. The declaration states that the government’s reaction towards the … Continue reading “More Than 300 People Sign a Petition for the Release of Artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara”
14ymedio, Havana, 8 February 2024 — The Provincial Court of Artemisa rejected an application for parole for the Cuban artist and political prisoner Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, as revealed on Wednesday by art curator Claudia Genlui on her social networks. The leader of the San Isidro Movement was imprisoned in July 2021 and sentenced in … Continue reading “A Cuban Court Alleges that Otero Alcantara Is Not Ready for ‘Social Reintegration’”
14ymedio/EFE, Havana, July 26, 2023 — Cuban opponent Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, in prison since 2021, lifted the hunger and thirst strike that began on July 6, sources close to the artist confirmed this Tuesday. Otero Alcántara himself confirmed the news to his relatives through a telephone call from the Guanajay prison, where he is … Continue reading “Cuban Opponent Otero Alcantara Confirms he Lifted His Hunger Strike After Weeks Incommunicado”
EFE (via 14ymedio), Juan Palop, Havana, July 24, 2023 — They talk about the exhaustion, the psychological damage, the pain of their exile, but also the need to remain strong for Cuban artists and activists Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara and Maykel Castillo Osorbo, both in prison in Cuba. In an interview with EFE, Cuban human rights defenders … Continue reading “Anamely Ramos and Claudia Genlui, the Voices from Exile of the Cubans Otero Alcantara and Osorbo”
EFE (via 14ymedio), Havana, July 8, 2023 — The Cuban artist and dissident Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara has started a hunger and thirst strike demanding his release from the Guanajay prison, where he is serving a five-year sentence, according to the activist Claudia Genlui speaking on Friday. This is the sixth strike by the leader … Continue reading “Cuban Artist and Dissident Otero Alcantara Begins a Hunger and Thirst Strike”
EFE (via 14ymedio), Mexico City, 23 June 2023 — Amnesty International (AI) said Thursday that the Cuban authorities must release the artists Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara and Maykel “Osorbo” Castillo Pérez “immediately and unconditionally.” It is now one year since they were unjustly sentenced to five and nine years in prison, respectively, in a legal process … Continue reading “Amnesty International Demands the ‘Immediate’ Release of Otero Alcantara and Maykel ‘Osorbo’”
14ymedio, Havana, 7 February 2023 — Artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, prisoner at the maximum-security prison in Guanajay (Artemisa), has been on a hunger strike for seven days to demand his freedom, according to what curator Claudia Genlui published on Tuesday on her Facebook wall. “I just spoke with Luis Manuel Otero. With a broken voice, … Continue reading “‘The Cuban Dictatorship will be Responsible for Whatever Happens to Luis Manuel’”
