WHY IS ONE OF CUBA’S MOST REBELLIOUS ARTISTS STILL ISOLATED IN A GOVERNMENT HOSPITAL?
His fellow dissidents say Otero Alcántara was shot for treatment against his will and they have not heard from himother than through videos released by Cuba`s social media.
Cuban health officials said if he was confessed, Otero Alcántara didn`t seem to have been deprived of water or food and on Tuesday said he is drinking and eating, raising the question of why he remains hospitalized and incommunicado.In one of those videos that was released, Otero Alcántara seems in good health, joking with a hospital secretary whilst affirming”that I am going to keep demanding my rights as an artist”Cuban health officials say Otero Alcántara is undergoing testing and has been treated voluntarily.While the Cuban government grapples with the financial consequences of this coronavirus and rougher US sanctions, Otero Alcántara and his little group of tech-savvy”artivists” are a source of frustration for officials around the communist-run island.Back in tweets and videos uploaded into social websites, Otero Alcántara and other members of the San Isidro Movement have recorded 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 arrival of mobile internetto the nation, which has enabled many Cubans to bypass social press and speak directly with rest of the world and their fellow Cubans.
Some Cuban officials claim the self-taught Otero Alcántara isn`t actually 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 musicians, that lately have enjoyed a special status that enabled them to criticize the government, albeit indirectly, and legally earn hard currency by selling their own job to tourists and consumers overseas.In November, authorities detained Otero Alcántara and fans during a hunger strike, alleging they had violated health restrictions set up to stop the spread of this pandemic.Within hours, a few hundred unsigned artists and pupils staged a rare sit-in protest beyond the Cuban Ministry of Culture and some of the island`s best-known cultural figures voiced their support for Otero Alcántara and increased freedom of expression.
Cuban officials quickly released Otero Alcántara and maintained he was a part of a US”soft coup” against the island.”The show is quite like people staged on other occasions by other mercenary bands and puppets at the support of the U.S. government,” an article mentioned in the Cuban communist party newspaper Granma roughly Otero Alcántara days after the demonstration. “The new series, hailing from Washington and Miami, is a part of plans for subversion against Cuba.”However, Otero Alcántara, an Afro-Cuban millennial who resides in a downtrodden area of Old Havana that tourists rarely venture into, does not fit the traditional image of an anti-Castro militant fighting to return the island to the times prior to the revolution. And he is especially adept at leveraging the obstacles Cuban officials throw him as a kind of performance art that creates more attention for his movement.While his activism, up to now, does not seem to be an existential threat to the Cuban government, it`s proved unnerving to officials.Otero Alcántara appeared in a music video for its tune”Patria y Vida” or”Fatherland and Life,” a drama on the revolutionary slogan”Fatherland or Death,” that is the way Fidel Castro finished his speeches. The video for the tune, which has been an anthem for anti-government immunity, has obtained five million views on YouTube.Back in April, when police surrounded his home, he put in an exhibition at which he sat controlled with a garrote around his throat.After he accused State Security agents of seizing his art, Otero Alcántara demanded $500,000 in settlement and said he was, again, going on a hunger strike.”I will fight to the last breath for my artistic freedom,” he wrote in a widely seen message. “In my body dies, I expect it will be a spark for the freedom of Cuba.”When Otero Alcántara was taken to the hospital in May, doctors released a statement saying the activist”showed no signs of malnutrition,” trying to cast doubt on his own hunger strike, but said he would stay”under monitoring.” But save one video where he accidentally speaks, he hasn`t been heard from and his fans say they`ve been blocked by police from seeing him in person.
As Cuban officials try to adapt into Otero Alcántara`s new brand of activism, the government runs the risk of endangering potentially improved relations with the Biden administration, which so far is moving gradually on participating with the island.”Like all Cubans, Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara deserves to be treated with dignity and respect,” the US Embassy in Havana submitted on Twitter. “We have seen reports that he is in hospital and his condition is stable. We urge the police to protect his well-being in this difficult moment.”Some Cuban artists assert that if greater freedom of expression were permitted, the strain with the musicians and state would ease. “Licensed protests. Democratic socialism. Along with the authorities protecting people who exercise their rights,” he continued.But top Cuban officials warn a harsher crackdown may be on the horizon.”Into the mercenary lumpen who make money off of everybody`s fate, to people who request an invasion, to people who continuously offend with words and deeds,” Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel said in a televised speech in April while taking the strong post of head of the Cuban communist party,”know that the patience of the people has limitations”