Cuban artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara arrived in Miami this Saturday afternoon, entering forced exile after serving a five-year sentence for participating in the massive protests of July 11, 2021. The 38-year-old creator—founder and leader of the San Isidro Movement—was released from the Guanajay maximum-security prison on July 7, but authorities held him in an undisclosed location, according to family members and activists who had reported him missing.
News emerged on Friday that the U.S. government had approved his entry into the country via humanitarian parole, a fact confirmed to Reuters by an official from the U.S. embassy in Havana. The official also stated that travel arrangements were being made.
Otero Alcántara emerged from the arrivals terminal at Miami International Airport wearing a long-sleeved shirt and a gray knit hat. The terminal was packed with members of the press, activists, and political dissidents. A heavy police cordon kept the crowd at a distance from the exit.
As he stepped out, waiting supporters sang the Cuban national anthem. A visibly emotional Otero Alcántara embraced several people, including Eliécer Márquez Duany—known as “El Funky”—one of the creators of the song “Patria y Vida.” “This isn’t over,” he said amidst applause, vowing to continue the fight for the freedom of Cuba, a country currently facing a dire humanitarian crisis. He also called for the release of all political prisoners and made a gesture symbolizing freedom—forming an “L” with his fingers—while some in the crowd shouted “freedom.” “Right now, I feel privileged. I am leaving behind a country in collapse. [Artist and dissident] Maykel Osorbo [Castillo] remains there—along with, I don’t know, how many other political prisoners; people who went through the same things I did, or worse,” said Otero Alcántara, a Cuban flag draped over his shoulders, as he thanked those present for their support. “The hardest part is being locked up in there, alone,” he added.
Otero Alcántara’s case is part of a pattern in which high-profile political prisoners are released only if they agree to leave the country. Last October, José Daniel Ferrer, leader of the Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU), arrived in Miami directly from Mar Verde prison in the country’s east, even though he had refused for years to negotiate exile. Although news of Alcántara’s release brings him some relief, Ferrer condemns the fact that “the regime makes it a condition for a Cuban that freedom can only be obtained by leaving the country—by abandoning one’s land and homeland—and going into exile.”
