Whereabouts of Cuban artist-activist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara remain unknown following end of prison sentence

The Art Newspaper reports that the whereabouts of Cuban artist-activist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara remain unknown after he was removed from Guanajay prison on July 7, following a five-year sentence that was due to end on July 9. Cuban-US artist Coco Fusco wrote in Hyperallergic that state security agents took him to an undisclosed location and that human rights organizations consider his status a forced disappearance; Fusco also noted that on July 6, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz displayed Otero Alcántara’s photo during a debate with Cuban officials about the U.S. embargo. Curator Anamely Ramos told El País that neither family nor close friends have received official communication and believes he is still in state security custody in Havana, possibly in a “protocol house” ahead of exile. The legal group Cubalex filed a habeas corpus petition on July 13 with Havana’s Provincial People’s Court and said on July 16 that the court reported the document was “in process,” which Cubalex alleges is a tactic to delay proceedings and pressure an exile-conditioned release; Otero Alcántara was originally detained on July 11, 2021, after posting online about joining nationwide anti-government protests and has been associated with the San Isidro movement against arts censorship.

Read the full article at The Art Newspaper - International art news and events