Freemuse urges on the Cuban authorities to immediately and unconditionally release performance artist and human rights activist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, given grave concerns over his deteriorating health, personal safety and the legality of his ongoing imprisonment. On 6 April, Otero Alcántara ended an eight-day hunger strike at Guanajay maximum-security prison where he has been held for over five years.
The hunger strike was triggered by mounting threats and systematic violations of his rights in detention. According to Cubalex, an independent Cuban legal organisation, Otero Alcántara has been subjected in recent weeks to death threats by State Security agents and prison officials. These threats were reportedly made during a prison inspection on 27 March, when officials threatened him and other political prisoners with lethal violence.
This is the seventh hunger strike Otero Alcántara has undertaken since his arbitrary detention in July 2021, when he was arrested following his participation in nationwide protests against the Cuban government, amid widespread shortages of food and medicine. His health is a matter of serious concern. He previously suffered partial facial paralysis as a result of earlier hunger strikes, raising alarm about the cumulative and potentially irreversible impact on his physical integrity.
There are growing fears that authorities may seek to extend his sentence beyond its expected completion in July 2026, further abusing the justice system to silence dissent and suppress freedom of expression.
Otero Alcántara’s case reflects a broader and well-documented pattern of repression in Cuba, which the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) and its Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression have consistently flagged — including the use of arbitrary detention, threats and judicial harassment to target artists and individuals perceived as critical of the government.
Freemuse calls on the Cuban authorities to immediately and unconditionally release Otero Alcántara; ensure he receives urgent independent medical care and guarantee his safety and physical integrity. It also urges the authorities to end all threats, harassment and reprisals against him, and calls on international and regional human rights mechanisms to closely monitor his situation and take urgent protective action.
By Diana Arévalo, Freemuse’s Latin America regional researcher.
