Campaign for Luis Manuel Otero Alcantara

“They removed my artworks, crumpled and torn to pieces. This shows once again the nature of a regime that has no respect for art, no respect for beauty, no respect for the sensitivity of artists. Those [actions] can only be compared with those of the Fascists.”

Luis Manuel Otero Alcantara. April 20, 2021

Luis Manuel Otero's health is at a critical state after 5 days in a hunger and thirst strike. This video by Democratic Spaces is intended to urge the Government of Canada and democratic governments around the world, NGOs, institutions and people of good will to raise a voice in solidarity with Luis Manuel Otero and against the extreme repression he and other artists/activists are subjected in Cuba.

Luis Manuel Otero Alcantara is a Cuban contemporary artist, co-founder of the Museum of Dissidence, human rights leader and coordinator of the San Isidro Movement. In protest for the State of Terror he and other artists and human rights activists have been subjected by the Cuban regime, he started a hunger and thirst strike on April 25. It is a measure of last resort against police sieges and forced house arrests on dozens of artists and activists across the island. In the past 3 years Luis Manuel Otero has been arbitrarily arrested over 48 times. Since Nov 2020 he has been the target of 24/7 police surveillance and on April 16, the regime stole his artworks and damaged it.

Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara´s demand as a condition to end his hunger/thirst strike:

1- End the police siege, he has been under since November 2020 and the State of Siege that prevents the free movement of artists, journalists, and activists

2- Return of the art pieces stolen to Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara and offer him financial compensation for the damages incurred on his artwork.

3- Respect the full exercise of artistic freedoms for all Cuban artists.