MADRID, Spain.- The Cuban artist and political prisoner Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara (LMOA) is in a delicate state of health in the maximum security prison in Guanajay, where he is serving a five-year sentence.
Due to a visit that Otero Alcántara received this Wednesday, it was learned that he recently fainted.
“He has a swollen knee from a fall he suffered, after fainting. We don’t know why this ‘black out’”, he informed from the account of Twitter of LMOA Yanelys Núñez Leyva, close to the opponent and member of the San Isidro Movement (MSI).
“What we do know is that he is thin and that he has not received medical attention to see what is happening to him,” Núñez added.
Luis Manuel received a visit today. He has a swollen knee from a fall he suffered, after fainting.
We don’t know why that black out. What we do know is that he is thin and that he has not received medical attention (beyond a pill) to see what happens to him. #FreeLuisma pic.twitter.com/0rxcUzBVz2— Luis M. Alcantara (@LMOAlcantara) March 7, 2023
Speaking to Cuban newspaper The activist denounced that the treatment that Luis Manuel receives in prison is different from that of the rest of the inmates, “especially in the right to telephone calls and the minutes that are allowed in those calls.”
Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara was sentenced to five years in prison in June 2022 after a trial held behind closed doors.
Imprisoned he has carried out five hunger strikes that have further weakened his health. One of these left sequelae in one eye and caused paralysis.
While in prison he also 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.”
