Artist and activist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara were on day eight of a hunger strike protesting what he said was a campaign of Cuban government harassment against him when,before dawn, health officials hauled him into a government hospital.His fellow dissidents say Otero Alcántara was shot for treatment contrary to his will and thatthey haven`t heard from him,other than through videos released by Cuba`s state-run media.
Cuban health officials said, if he had been confessed, Otero Alcántara did not seem to have been deprived of water or food and on Tuesday said he`s drinking and eating, raising the question of why he remains hospitalized and incommunicado.In one of those videos that premiered, Otero Alcántara appears in great health, joking with a hospital administrator whilst affirming”I am likely to keep demanding my rights as an artist.”Cuban health officials say Otero Alcántara is stillundergoing testing and is being treated voluntarily.While the Cuban government grapples with the economic impacts of the coronavirus and rougher US sanctions, Otero Alcántara and his small set of tech-savvy”artivists” are increasinglya source of frustration for officials around the communist-run island.In tweets and videos uploaded into societal media, Otero Alcántara along with other members of his San Isidro Movement have documented their effort in real time against official censorship and the Cuban authorities and security officials that frequently shadow their every move.”We`re linked,” is a frequent refrain and hashtag in his messages, a reference to the current advent of mobile to the nation, which has enabled many Cubans to bypass state-run press and speak directly with the rest of the world and their fellow Cubans.
Some Cuban officials assert thatthe self-taught Otero Alcántara isn`t really a performer, which speaks to his assertion that government bureaucrats should not determine what qualifies as art on the island.Sometimes Otero Alcántara has threatened to push a wedge between the government and Cuban artists, that lately have enjoyed a unique status that enabled them to criticize the government, albeit indirectly, and legally earn hard currency by selling their own job to tourists and customers abroad.In November, authorities detained Otero Alcántara and fans during a hunger strike, alleging they had violated health constraints set up to block the spread of the pandemic.Within hours, several hundred Cuban artists and pupils staged a rare sit-in protest beyond the Cuban Ministry of Culture and some of the island`s most best known cultural figures voiced their support to Otero Alcántara and greater freedom of expression.
Cuban officials immediately released Otero Alcántara and maintained he was part of a US”soft coup” from the island.”The show is quite like people staged on other occasions by other mercenary bands and puppets at the service of the U.S. government,” an article mentioned in the Cuban communist party newspaper Granma roughly Otero Alcántara days after the demonstration. “The new show, orchestrated from Washington and Miami, is part of plans for subversion against Cuba.”But Otero Alcántara, an Afro-Cuban millennial who lives in a downtrodden area of Old Havana that tourists seldom venture into, doesn`t fit the conventional image of an anti-Castro militant fighting to return the island to the days prior to the revolution. And he`s particularly adept at leveraging the obstacles Cuban officials throw him as a kind of performance art that creates more attention because of his movement.While his activism, so far, does not appear to be an existential threat to the Cuban government, it`s nonethelessproved unnerving to officials.Otero Alcántara appeared in a music video for its tune”Patria y Vida” or”Fatherland and Life,” a play on the revolutionary slogan”Fatherland or Death,” which is the way Fidel Castro finished his speeches. The video for the tune, which has been an anthem for anti-government resistance, has received five million views on YouTube.In April, when police surrounded his house, he put in an exhibition where he sat restrained with a garotte around his neck.After he accused State Security representatives of seizing his art, Otero Alcántara demanded $500,000 in compensation and stated he had been, again, going on a hunger strike.”I shall fight to the last breath because of my artistic freedom,” he wrote in a widely seen message. “In my body dies, I hope it`s going to be a spark to the liberty of Cuba.”When Otero Alcántara had been carried to the hospital in May, doctors released a statement stating the activist”revealed no signs of adultery,” trying to throw doubt on his own hunger strike, but said he`d stay”under monitoring.”Cuban state-run media have published regular updates on Otero Alcántara, a rare acknowledgement of anti-government dissent. But save one video where he accidentally speaks, he hasn`t been heard from and his fans say they`ve been obstructed by police from watching him in person.
As Cuban officials try to adapt into Otero Alcántara`s new brand of activism, the government runs the risk of threatening potentially improved relations with the Biden government, which so far is moving slowly on engaging with the island. “We have seen reports that he`s in hospital and thathis state is stable. We urge the authorities to safeguard his well-being in this difficult moment.”Some Cuban artists argue that if greater liberty of expression were allowed, the tension with the musicians and state would facilitate. “Licensed protests. Democratic socialism. Along with the authorities protecting people who exercise their faith,” he continued.But top Cuban officials warn thata harsher crackdown could be on the horizon.”Into the mercenary lumpen who earn money off of everybody`s fate, to people who ask for an invasion, to people who always offend with words and deeds,” Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel stated in a televised address in April while accepting the powerful post of head of the Cuban communist party,”know that the patience of these people has limits.”