AREQUIPA, Peru – Cuban activist and artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, currently sentenced to five years in prison by the Castro regime, will present his work this Saturday The blood that is spilled at the American Museum of the Cuban Diaspora, located at 1,200 Coral Way, Miami, Florida.
It is a performance carried out in collaboration with the artists Claudia Genlui and Norges Rodríguez that seeks to pay tribute to the political prisoners and the victims of the dictatorship on the Island.
According to the event’s press release, the action will take place from 1:00 PM to 6:00 PM, inviting all interested parties to participate in an artistic and symbolic experience of reflection and memory.
In The blood that is spilled The triangle of the Cuban flag—on this occasion presented to the public in white—becomes a canvas where participants are invited to write symbolically, and even with their blood, the names of those who have been victims of repression.
This action seeks to remind those who have lost freedom and even life in their fight for a free and democratic Cuba.
With the collaboration of researcher María Borlau and the 11J Group, a representative list of people who have given their lives for the freedom of Cuba has been compiled. This list will be available to the public, allowing each person who attends to join in this action of remembrance and resistance.
Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara invites all citizens and visitors to join this participatory work, which seeks to transcend the pain of Cubans and bring a message of solidarity and hope. Through this act of commitment, we seek to strengthen collective memory and make visible the human cost of the fight for freedom in Cuba.
On November 9 in Bergen, Norway, Otero Alcántara was honored by receiving the prestigious Rafto Human Rights Award.
The official ceremony, which took place at the University Aula in Bergen, featured the participation of prominent figures of Cuban activism, such as Norges Rodríguez, Yanelys Núñez and Anamely Ramos.
As part of the tributes, on Sunday, November 10 a torchlight procession was organized in honor of the political prisoner with the aim of making visible his struggle and the value of his activism against the Cuban regime.
The Rafto Foundation had announced in September that Otero Alcántara would be awarded for his “brave opposition to authoritarianism through art.” In the words of the jury, “the 2024 Rafto award aims to highlight the importance of the work of Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara and other artists in challenging power structures and defending democracy and human rights in Cuba and around the world. ”.
In addition, the foundation urged the Cuban Government to release Otero Alcántara and all political prisoners, as well as to repeal the Decree 349which limits freedom of artistic expression in the country.
