Concerns have been raised about the safety and whereabouts of Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara. The Cuban artist-activist was released from prison on 7 July following a five-year sentence, but appears to still be in the custody of the authorities and his whereabouts remain unknown.
Otero Alcántara, who has been detained since 2021, was held in Guanajay, a maximum-security penitentiary southwest of Havana. In recent years, he has become a symbol for artists and intellectuals who oppose the Cuban government’s clampdown on artistic freedom. His five-year sentence was due to end on 9 July.
Coco Fusco, a Cuban-US artist who has campaigned for Otero Alcántara’s release, writes in Hyperallergic that “state security agents removed him from Guanajay Prison on 7 July and whisked him off to an undisclosed location. His relatives say they have not been notified. Human rights organisations have determined his current status to be a forced disappearance.” Fusco also highlights that on 6 July, the US Ambassador to the United Nations, Mike Waltz, held up a photo of Otero Alcántara during a debate with Cuban officials about the US embargo against Cuba.
Anamely Ramos, a curator and friend of the artist, told the Spanish newspaper El Pais last week: “Right now, Luis Manuel is disappeared. He is not free. He has not been released. He is in the hands of state security somewhere in Havana. Neither his family nor his close friends have received any official communication, and if we know he was taken out of Guanajay, it is only thanks to the solidarity of other prisoners.”
Friends of Otero Alcántara believe he is being held in a “protocol house” before being exiled to another country, possibly the United States. The Cuban embassy in London was contacted for comment.
Meanwhile the human rights organisation, Cubalex, which legally advises dissidents and reports human rights violations, filed a writ of habeus corpus with the Provincial People's Court of Havana on 13 July. Following the 72-hour mandatory period for the court to respond to its petition, Cubalex posted on its X account on 16 July: “the court authorities evasively reported that they still have no response and that the document is ‘in process’...we denounce that this unjustified delay points to a strategy by state security to stretch out legal timelines and force a release conditioned on his immediate and permanent exile from the country.” Cubalex was contacted for comment.
Otero Alcántara was detained on 11 July 2021 on charges of contempt and insult to national symbols, after posting a video to social media saying he planned to join the anti-government protests which swept the country that day. The co-founder of the San Isidro movement against government censorship of the arts, Otero Alcántara went on hunger strike several times during his incarceration.