The art curator Claudia Genlui, a member of the San Isidro Movement (MSI), arrived in Miami this Tuesday for an indefinite period of time, although she assures that her departure from the country is related to personal reasons. State Security was with her at the airport “all the time” until the moment she got on the plane.
“There is something important that I want to make clear: I am not exiling myself from Cuba. I will never accept that State Security wants to remove Luis Manuel permanently [Otero Alcántara] ya maykel [Castillo Osorbo] from Cuba, those words: definitely, exile, exile, for me they don’t exist. I will not tolerate them for them but I will not tolerate them for any of us. I am going to return to Cuba, I do not know if it is in 15 days, in a month, I do not know, I only know that I am going to return, “the activist told 14ymedio during his stopover in Mexico.
Genlui maintains that one of the reasons that have brought her to Miami is the need to accompany her mother, who is ill with cancer. In addition, he says that Otero Alcántara asked him to carry out some formalities related to his work. “I was able to take out all of Luisma’s works. It came loaded but there was no setback whatsoever with that,” she said, relieved.
The last time the curator saw Otero Alcántara in prison, she recalls, the artist told her that she “was being a kind of crutch for the regime” and that he needed her “free, out, healthy, safe”
The last time the curator saw Otero Alcántara in prison, she recalls, the artist told her that she “was being a kind of crutch for the regime” and that he needed her “free, out, healthy, safe.” “For me it has been one of the most difficult moments because unconsciously I cling to him and to all the emotion, to all the feeling that unites me to him, beyond being partners in this fight,” he confessed.
The activist considers that it is necessary to “normalize the idea of entering and leaving Cuba” and pointed out that at the moment there are many things to do beyond paying attention to whether or not she is leaving the country. “One of the things that I have had to assume has been that migrations leave a bitter taste, such a strong pain … It is a subject that one carries inside and is not able to even speak it. The most certain thing I have is that I’m going back, “he reiterated.
Claudia Genlui is persecuted by the regime since she was dismissed in December 2019 from the Office of the Historian from Havana, where she was a civil servant. The curator gave an independent art conference at the embassy of the Czech Republic and, days later, was notified of her expulsion.
The Historian’s Office reproached Genlui for hiding his participation in the event after a circular was distributed on November 30 indicating that any worker in his situation should notify his superiors of any contacts with an embassy.
The historian claimed that the activity was outside of her working hours, so she was not accountable. In addition, according to what he said at the time, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had knowledge of the events, since the Czech diplomatic headquarters notified him of the celebration and his only condition was that he did not give the Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara workshop.
It was useless to claim for a decision that, finally, was not reversed. That was the beginning of an obstacle course for the curator, whose life became increasingly complicated due to her participation in the hunger strike of the San Isidro Movement to demand the release of Denis Solís, in the artists’ demonstration. in front of the Ministry of Culture on November 27, 2020 and in the protests on July 11 throughout the country.
In recent times, he has combined his activism with his role as spokesperson for Otero Alcántara. Although he barely maintains contact with the artist, imprisoned since July 11, she has been his voice on the street these months. The last time she was able to see him was on October 21.
The curator explained in detail his meeting with Otero Alcántara in the magazine The sneeze, recounting in the first person the difficulties, not being the activist’s family, to enter the Guanajay maximum security prison where the MSI leader is.
Otero Alacántara was expected to leave the island as a result of the negotiations announced by Tania Bruguera, in the same vein as those that led to the departure of the artists Hamlet Lavastida and Katherine Bisquet, who left for Poland after he was released in exchange for his exile.
Bruguera has already warned on several occasions that neither Otero Alcántara nor Maykel Castillo Osorbo they were inclined to accept a release in exchange for leaving the country.
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