MADRID, Spain.- The artivist and political prisoner Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, imprisoned by the Cuban regime for a year and a half, “tries to cope with prison as best he can”, said the feminist activist Yanelys Núñez this Thursday, after recent telephone communication with Alcántara.
“I spoke with Luis Manuel this Tuesday. A call from prison always breaks you a little inside. I don’t adapt to the idea that I’m in that place, in #Guanajay, ONE YEAR AND SIX MONTHS ago. It seems little, but it is not, ”expressed Núñez from his social networks.
As he explained, Otero Alcántara sometimes draws, sometimes makes portraits of friends, sometimes watches the crap on Cuban television, sometimes reads; but being without a minute of solitude all the time, without feeling watched, without being alert, sometimes makes you desperate”.
The opponent, exiled in Madrid since March 2019, after having suffered several years of political persecution in Cuba, pointed out that the leader of the San Isidro Movement (MSI) “survives prison like any other political prisoner… as long as the forces give him ”.
“I can offer you few tools other than listening to you, sending you food and medicine, FIGHTING FOR YOUR FREEDOM. I want to keep thinking that the moment when he is free will come soon, ”he said in his emotional message.
Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara was sentenced to five years in prison in June 2022 after a trial held behind closed doors.
While in prison he received the prize Prince Claus Impact 2022, delivered by the Dutch fund of the same name, which aims to recognize artists who from their communities carry out relevant, necessary and inspiring work, addressing political issues, related to the environment or in defense of human rights .
last november International Amnesty (AI), one of the organizations that has continued to denounce and make his case visible, called to join a campaign to demand his release. On that occasion, Amnesty International highlighted that despite his delicate state of health, the artist “in prison does not receive adequate medical care and his health continues to deteriorate.”
