Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, leader ofSan Isidro Movement (MSI) He responded to the Cubans who now tell him to go out and demonstrate in the streets for the freedom of the activists who fell into prison for demanding theirs. “You go out too,” he replied.
“To those who do not understand that we are fighting against a dictatorship and that we must have strategies for it. To those who believe that this can be resolved by shouting 'pa' la calle, pa' la calle! “I ask you to join,” the artist said this Wednesday in one of his live streams on Facebook.
In a calm tone, without irritation despite the topic of his talk, Luis Manuel explained to his followers that he continues to fight for the freedom of his imprisoned “brothers,” but that he intends to do so using different strategies, looking for more effective ways to achieve his goals. .
In that sense, he shared an anecdote that moved him to make the live broadcast this Wednesday. According to what he said, this morning he walked 4 or 5 kilometers to buy fish and received the support of many Cubans who crossed paths with him. “People on the street told me Luisma, we are with you, you are the best, etc.”
However, the exchange with two specific people made him reflect on the message he wanted to convey in his live stream. The first was a lady who, with all due respect, told him that at the Calixto García Hospital they had destroyed it and that was why she did not do more direct work. The other person passed by in a car and told him: “You have to get dressed, I see you lazy!”
Indeed, these are opinions that have been circulating a lot on social networks, often issued from respect and empathy, but sometimes from a disappointment that ends up discrediting their activism and that of so many others who challenge the power of the totalitarian regime. Cuban.
“I go out on the street with a sign and they take me prisoner for 2 or 4 hours. They release me again, they catch me again, they release me again… and it's an endless cycle. We are used to that and we do not achieve the main objectives,” said the artist.
As an example of this dynamic, Luis Manuel gave the case of Denis Solís. “The strike of the San Isidro garrisons was one of the most significant political and cultural events and yet Denis has been in prison for 8 months. They have to be ready to release it, but they have taken it to the ultimate consequences,” he indicated.
“Therefore, we have to look for new ways, new ways in which the regime does not have room [for maneuver],” said the activist, who also explained the situation in which he currently finds himself.
“There is a camera on the corner of my grandmother's house, in Cerro, not in San Isidro,” he said and showed it in his live broadcast. “I am monitored 24x24, it is a complaint that I am making. State Security agents follow me. I have 3 or 4 cars behind me and I'm not faking it. There are people who have been with me who can witness that,” he added.
“With all this surveillance I don't want to repeat the same positions. We are working, mind you. Trust, as you have trusted until now. “We are working super hard to free the brothers,” he said before his connection was cut off, revealing the surveillance operation that is being carried out on him.
“There is one important thing, family: you cannot lose sight of the fact that I am the coordinator of the MSI and as such I have responsibilities for organizing a lot of things. Even things below. We have to work, we have to move things to free my brother Esteban, Maykel,Thais andthe rest of Bishop, to free Luis Robles, El Gato, the more than 150 political prisoners,” explained the young activist.
“My responsibility is to the MSI, to overthrow the dictatorship, to establish a democracy, to work for the freedom of my brothers. You have to dedicate time to the MSI. It has to be reorganized, reinvented. Because it grows, there are new people, new visions, because things happen to us and one has to constantly reinvent oneself,” the artist shared.
“There are a lot of people protesting in New York right now., demanding the freedom of political prisoners. There are people who demonstrate inside and outside of Cuba. But there are a lot of other people who don't go anywhere. I understand those who are afraid because their family is still in Cuba. But there are Cubans likeCarlos Manuel Alvarez, what He came to San Isidro when we were quartered; The howCarolina Barrero whatHe abandoned the privileges of his life in Madrid. And there are people who go out in Miami andThey demonstrate next to Versailles”, he exemplified.
Focused on the ways to make Cuban activism more effective, Luis Manuel addressed those who think “that if the Cuban is a coward, that if this falls with 10 thousand people in the street. But, who has the way to get 10,000 Cubans onto the streets?” he asked them.
“5 of us left on one side, 5 on the other, 5 in Holguín, 20 in Santiago; but no one has found a way to put it all together. So,We're working on finding a way to bring all of that together.. The Cuban people must be given reasons to protest in the streets. “That's something I'm going to do tomorrow,” he announced. Likewise, he reaffirmed that he will begin to conduct live sessions more frequently, since now he has more information than when he left the hospital, and many ideas that he wants to share.
“I am clear about where I stand. They have asked me if I fixed the doctor's neck, if this or that. None of that matters to me. “I cannot separate myself from the fight for justice, from the fight for the freedom of Cuba,” he declared.
“They can break my bones, break my head, fracture me, they can literally kill me; but I'm going to keep fighting. Here, in the hereafter and in the hereafter. In all places I am going to continue fighting and stay put.”
“For those who say that the electroshocks they gave me affected my brain, I tell them that I continue working, that I am fine and that we continue with super new ideas in favor of freeing Cuba from the dictatorship and all the political prisoners. There will be more prisoners, and I will be one of them, but while I am on the street I will fight for them," he added.
“Those who send everyone to the streets, tell me how to make a transition. When they have 10 thousand people on the streets, or they put 20 or 50 in prison, how are you going to give food to the children of those who are imprisoned? I will work to make our efforts effective. We are connected. Homeland and Life”, he concluded.
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