Update on kidnapped Cuban dissident taken from his home at 5:00am on May 2, 2021, possibly subjected to electroshock and other dissidents and journalists jailed since April 30th for protesting on his behalf.
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| Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara |
Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara has been arbitrarily detained ( held hostage) for 21 days in the Calixto Garcia hospital in Havana. The facility is militarized: those who have tried to see him are now incarcerated. It is not known what Havana is doing to Otero's mind and body. However it is evident that the Castro regime wants to destroy the artist who has challenged the regime both in Havana, the national, and international stage.
The regime has also sought to send a message to other Cubans willing to show their solidarity for the artist. Mary Karla Ares, Esteban Rodríguez, Yuisán Cancio Vera, Inti Soto Romero, Luis Ángel Cuba Alfonso and Thais Mailén Franco remain jailed after 23 days for reporting on or participating in the nonviolent protest on Obispo Street on April 30, 2021 for the life and freedom of Luis Manuel.
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| Still detained from April 30, 2021 protest in Obispo Street in Havana |
The human rights NGO Cubalex reported on May 22nd that "Mary Karla Ares is taken out of her cell nightly to be interrogated, then stopped, and a few minutes later a new interrogation. This is done again and again in the early morning hours. The intention is not to let her sleep, to torture her. She is a journalist and lives in Cuba." According to Cubalex she "suffers from endometriosis, and during the weeks that she has been detained she has not received specialized care or medication, despite severe pain."
Amnesty International reported that Maykel Castillo (Osorbo) was taken by police on May 18 and has been missing over the past 72 hours. According to Erika Guevara-Rosas of Amnesty International in a tweet on May 22nd, "musician and human rights defender Maykel Osorbo, more than 72 hrs after his arbitrary detention, does not appear in police system records. Unaccounted for, authorities do not provide information, which could constitute forced disappearance, a crime under international law."
🚨🇨🇺 El músico y defensor de #DDHH Maykel Osorbo, a más de 72hrs de su detención arbitraria, no aparece en los registros del sistema policial. En paradero desconocido, autoridades no dan información, lo que podría constituir desaparición forzada, crimen de derecho internacional pic.twitter.com/75aeQor3wE
— Erika Guevara-Rosas (@ErikaGuevaraR) May 22, 2021
Memory against power
The Castro regime would like to disappear Luis Manuel, and the other persons they have taken who nonviolently protested against the abuses visited upon the Cuban artist. Milan Kundera, the Czech writer, in his 1999 novel The Book of Laughter and Forgetting observed that "the struggle of man against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting." This blog post will revisit what happened that led to where we are today.
Origin of the San Isidro Movement
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| San Idisdro Movement founded in 2018 to protest Decree 349 |
The San Isidro Movement, a dissident movement made up of artists that came into existence in 2018 to protest Decree 349, a new law that further tightened the dictatorship's grip over the arts in Cuba. headquarters in Old Havana. Their mission is to campaign against Decree 349 and defend the freedom of expression of artists. Luis Manuel is one of the leaders of this movement, and his home is the headquarters of the San Isidro Movement. Over the past three years, Amnesty International has on three occasions recognized Luis Manuel Otero a prisoner of conscience. With the most recent designation being on May 21, 2021.
Luis Manuel Otero Alcantara since 2018 has been engaged in a dialogue with the Cuban government demanding that artistic freedom in Cuba be respected and expanded. The dialogue was initiated when the Cuban government announced Decree 349, a dystopian law that further restricted artistic freedoms in the already existing state of repression that existed.
In an interview with Amnesty International in 2019, Luis Manuel said: “I’m like the tip of the iceberg. We are talking about an endless number of artists in Cuba. [The authorities] come after me, because as I am supposedly the most visible of the youth, activists-artists, they send the message ‘Well, if we lock this one up, look what we can do to you lot.’”
Prisoner of conscience first time
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| Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara and Claudia Genlui |
In March 2020, the World Movement for Democracy condemned the violent arrest and detention of artist and civil society activist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara by Cuban authorities and joined organizations like PEN America and the San Isidro Movement in demanding his release. "He was arrested in Havana on March 1 as he was leaving his home to attend an independent anti-censorship demonstration organized by the local LGBTQ community. During the arrest a policewoman threw Otero Alcántara’s girlfriend, Claudia Genlui, to the floor and hit her for attempting to record the arrest on her cellphone," reported the World Movement. Many feared that he would be subjected to a political show trial. March 13, 2020 was the first time that Amnesty International recognized Luis Manuel as a prisoner of conscience.
On November 9, 2020, during the Covid-19 pandemic Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara and the San Isidro Movement were confronted with a new challenge. Their colleague Denis Solís González was arrested for recording and speaking critically of a police officer searching his home without a warrant. He was subjected to a summary trial on November 11, 2020 and sentenced to eight months in prison for “contempt” (desacato). Denis was taken to Valle Grande, a maximum-security prison just outside Havana to serve out his prison sentence.
Luis Manuel, together with other artists and intellectuals started holding protests outside the police station. They were roughed up and their protests shut down. The activists moved the protests to the San Isidro Movement's headquarters, Luis Manuel's home and beginning on November 15, 2020 they were surrounded by police. They were protesting the arbitrary detention of Denis Solís González.
On November 18, 2020 when it became clear that officials would not allow anyone to deliver them food, and in the early morning hours of that day had used a chemical agent to poison their water supply that nine of them decided to go on hunger strike, and four of them took the additional step to also start a thirst strike. This was done to conserve food and water for those among them in a more vulnerable situation.
Luis Manuel was one of the four that initiated the hunger and thirst strike on November 18, 2020. Four days later around midnight, despite a cordon of state security and revolutionary national police surrounding the San Isidro Movement headquarters a Luis Manuel Alcantara was attacked with by an unidentified man who broke into the San Isidro Movement's headquarters on November 22, 2020. This was suspicious because police had blocked neighbors, friends, and family members from reaching them in the previous four days.
On November 26 at 8:00pm regime officials shutoff their access to internet and to their phones and organized a rapid response brigade for an act of repudiation. Secret police dressed as doctors raided the San Isidro Movement headquarters and forcibly expelled and arrested everyone inside and beat them up.
Prisoner of conscience a second time on 27N
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| Prisoners of conscience: Luis Manuel Otero and Anamely Ramos González |
On November 27, 2020 Amnesty International recognized Cuban artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara and academic Anamely Ramos González prisoners of conscience. This was the second time that Luis Manuel was recognized a prisoner of conscience. Hundreds of artists and intellectuals gathered outside of the Ministry of Culture for several hours to protest the raid on the San Isidro Movement, and demand greater artistic freedom in Cuba. They met with officials, peacefully presented their demands, and dispersed.
Level of surveillance and harassment against Luis Manuel and other members of the San Isidro Movement grew exponentially after the events of November 27, 2020.
On December 15, 2020 Amnesty International released a statement titled "Cuba: San Isidro movement and allies under frightening levels of surveillance," and raised the alarm of how they were being treated. “The disturbing level of restrictions to which activists and independent journalists are now being subjected is like something out of an Orwell novel set in Havana’s palm-lined streets. The police presence outside their homes, and constant threat of arrest, is so relentless that activists are essentially being imprisoned in their own homes,” said Erika Guevara-Rosas, Americas director at Amnesty International.
Homeland and Life
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| San Isidro Movement artists in the music video Patria y Vida. |
Despite the surveillance and harassment Maykel Osorbo, El Funky, and Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara were able to collaborate on a song and video with other artists that demanded an end to repression in Cuba. The song rejects violence and death in favor of life, and calls for understanding and treating each other with humanity.
Cuban artists both in the diaspora and on the island: Yotuel Romero, Gente de Zona, Descemer Bueno, Maykel Osorbo, El Funky, and Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, collaborated in the song and video Homeland and Life (Patria y Vida) that challenges the regime's official narrative. On February 16, 2021 the video was premiered live with Yotuel Romero, Gente de Zona, Descemer Bueno on Youtube, and Maykel Osorbo briefly speaking live from Cuba before the secret police cut him off.
Performance highlighting precarious position of dissidents
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| Vile Garrote performance on April 16, 2021 |
The dictatorship responded with escalating acts of random violence against San Isidro members. On April 16, 2021 over Facebook, Luis Manuel Otero Alcantara, one of the leaders of the San Isidro Movement announced a performance to dramatize the vulnerability of dissidents on the island. He explained the dramatic protest he was undertaking.
"From today I will be for 8 h daily for 5 days, sitting in a Garrote, days when I remain besieged by the DSE (State Security), I call on the authorities to turn this lathe and execute me publicly. Today Cuban activists and opponents live more vulnerable than ever, every day we are more exposed, and that vulnerability is coming from a dictatorship that is 62 years old. That 62-year-old dictatorship that copies the most repressive models of many dictatorships and security and repression organs like Russia, and those of the world.
This work is the result of a series of videos where we denounce the arbitrary way in which activists and opponents in Cuba are accused. From Law 88 that can sentence you to up to 20 years in jail, coming with the black spring, to the charge of contempt, a crime for which Denis Solis is now in prison, and Luis Robles is also in prison for expressing himself .. The law against insulting patriotic symbols is another one of those laws that criminalize free speech, crimes made up by State security. This performance is based on the garrote technique of killing activists or criminals in dictatorships like Franco's and in the Spanish Colonies. It is a wake-up call to what this dictatorship is capable of doing. Imagine if Luis Robles was handed down a six years prison sentence for expressing himself with a sign, what can happen to an activist who actually succeeds in having millions of followers for Cuban Freedom?"
The political police arrived that same day and took him away then returned with a mob to seize and steal or destroy his artwork located there at his home and studio. It was captured on video by a neighbor.
"Following his release, [Luis Manuel] had planned to protest the repeated persecution he and other independent artists have faced in recent months at the parliament building in Havana, but officials blocked his movements, reportedly throwing him in jail every time he attempted to leave his apartment. Authorities have reportedly cut off his internet access, and police have surrounded his apartment, preventing anyone from entering.
Hunger and thirst strike
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| Luis Manuel Otero Alcantara on hunger and thirst strike |
On Sunday [April 25, 2021], Otero Alcántara announced his hunger and thirst strike, intended as an act of protest against the seizure of his works and the ongoing persecution of artists," reported PEN America on April 26, 2021. They are arbitrarily detaining activists, like rapper and poet AfrikReina for trying to visit him at his home.
'This is not a performance or a work of art, it is demanding rights' in a protest that is life threatening to Luis Manuel. Havana Times on April 28, 2021 also outlined the circumstances that led to the hunger and thirst strike, and listed the demands of the San Isidro Movement for it to end.
1- Lift the police cordon on Luis Manuel Otero Alcantara in force since November 2020, and get rid of the state of siege as a practice to stop the free movement of artists, journalists and activists.
2- Return the art works that were stolen from Luis Manuel Otero Alcantara and compensate him for any damages that they’ve incurred.
3- Respect for Cuban artists and them exercising their freedoms fully.
Protest and crackdown
It was obvious that his physical condition was deteriorating, and in desperation friends and colleagues held a sit-in protest at the intersection of Obispo Street and Aguacate Street in Havana on April 30, 2021. Surrounded by police and state security agents they shouted "We want to see Luis Manuel!", "Luis Manuel is dying!", "Homeland and Life", and "We are more than them!" and other phrases. Passersby joined in, and the situation grew tense when police and intelligence officials arrested the nonviolent protesters and took them away.
Anamely Ramos González, a former prisoner of conscience, listed some of those arrested on April 30th either at the Obispo Street protest, or detained when leaving their homes to see Luis Manuel: Thais Mailen Franco, Esteban Rodríguez, Douglas Batista, Lara Yumila, Mary Karla Ares, Nancy Vera, Yuisan Cancio Vera, Luis Ángel, Inti Soto, Félix Modesto Valdés, Carolina Barrero, Joe Luis Cerutti, Maykel Castillo (Osorbo), Héctor Luis Valdés, Félix David Estévez and Leonardo Romero.
Taken hostage
At 5:00am on Sunday, May 2, 2021 state security agents forced their way into Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara's home. Officials gave contradictory statements to attempt to discredit the dissident. Activists and family members demanded proof of life. Over the next three weeks the dictatorship released private medical information claiming that Luis Manuel had not been on hunger strike and sporadic videos that show an emaciated activist in a worsening condition. The San Isidro Movement continues to demand access to Luis Manuel Otero, and only some relatives have been permitted limited access. 21 days later and Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara remains a hostage and their are fears that he is being subjected to electroshock and other psychological instruments to destroy his identity.
We continue to fear for his wellbeing, and his life, and that of his friends who are still jailed.
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| Screen grab of Luis Manuel from video released by regime |
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