Cuban artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcantara arrives in US exile
Marco Rubio confirmed the dissident artist’s arrival and urged Cuba to release more than 700 political prisoners.
By Daniel Okafor · Business Editor
2 min read
Cuban artist and dissident Luis Manuel Otero Alcantara has arrived in the United States after five years in prison, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Saturday. The move places one of Cuba’s most prominent opposition artists in exile as Washington intensifies pressure on Havana over political detentions.
Al Jazeera reported that Otero Alcantara is expected to live in exile in the US. An AFP photograph showed him waving at Miami International Airport on July 18.
Otero Alcantara, 38, had been serving a five-year sentence on charges of insulting national symbols, contempt and disturbing public order, according to Al Jazeera. Rubio said the artist had faced repeated harassment, detention and imprisonment because of his opposition to Cuba’s government.
“For daring to imagine a free Cuba, he was harassed, detained and imprisoned time and again, but today, he is in exile,” Rubio said.
San Isidro Movement figure
Otero Alcantara co-founded the San Isidro Movement, a collective of artists and intellectuals that has called for expanded freedoms in Cuba, according to Al Jazeera. Amnesty International has said members of the movement have been a “constant target” of repression by Cuban authorities.
Rights groups have repeatedly urged Cuba to free hundreds of people they describe as political prisoners. Rubio used Otero Alcantara’s arrival to renew that demand, calling for the “immediate release” of “the more than 700 unjustly detained political prisoners” in Cuba.
Rubio also said the Trump administration “remains committed to the Cuban people’s pursuit of freedom.”
US pressure on Cuba
The case comes amid rising economic and diplomatic pressure between Washington and Havana, according to Al Jazeera. Earlier in the week, the US Department of the Treasury imposed sanctions on Cuba’s Ministry of Tourism and other entities tied to the country’s tourism industry.
Al Jazeera reported that tourism is a key source of revenue for Cuba, which remains economically isolated. The outlet also reported that Cuba’s energy infrastructure has nearly collapsed under a US-imposed oil blockade, with blackouts affecting millions of people across the island.
Cuba and the United States have long been at odds over sanctions, human rights and political freedoms. Otero Alcantara’s arrival in the US adds a high-profile dissident case to that wider dispute.
This story draws on original reporting from Al Jazeera.