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The artist and political prisoner Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara ended his eight-day hunger strike on Monday at the Guanajay prison in Artemisa, as he had announced, according to confirmation from his page on Facebook.
The strike, which lasted from March 30 to April 6, was a direct response to the death threats received from agents of Department 21 of State Security during an inspection at the prison on March 28, and to the regime's refusal to release him early despite legal efforts from Cubalex.
Days before starting total starvation, Otero Alcántara had begun a partial fast of 12 hours a day as a first form of protest. It was precisely that fast that triggered threats from the prison officials: "With one of those same AKMs you mentioned, we come here, but we are going to kill you here," the agents told him. In response, the artist radicalized his protest and began a total hunger strike.
For eight days, Otero Alcántara only consumed water, depleting the few nutrients in a body already weakened by multiple previous hunger strikes. At no point was he taken to the prison infirmary.
The art curator Anamely Ramos, who was able to speak with him by phone this Tuesday, conveyed his condition to Martí Noticias. "After all those days, not just of hunger strike but also of silence, he called to say that he is well, that he is stable, that his body withstood the hunger strike quite well, with a bit of weakness, as is normal, but that he feels much better now, emotionally."
Ramos added that the artist "managed to reconnect a bit with his own inner strength" and that he "feels a lot of peace" after the action. However, he also warned that Otero Alcántara "needed strength, quite a bit, to endure the three months he has left and to also reorganize his thoughts and see what he will do in case the Cuban state indeed does not want to release him." His sentence ends in July 2026, but there is a well-founded fear that the regime may attempt to extend it through legal tricks.
While on hunger strike, State Security agents visited him in an attempt to downplay the death threat, telling him it had been "a mistake" and that they would not fabricate a new charge against him. Activist Yanelys Núñez flatly rejected those explanations: "We cannot believe anything when injustices continue to be committed against Luis Manuel." Núñez emphasized that the organizations supporting the political prisoner "continue to denounce that Luis is at risk and that abuses are still being perpetrated against him."
The case of Otero Alcántara highlights the contradiction between the official discourse of pardons and the reality of political prisoners in Cuba. On April 2, the regime announced the release of 2,010 prisoners as a "humanitarian gesture" for Easter, but no political prisoner was included.
The decree explicitly excludes those who have committed "crimes against authority," a category under which the regime systematically incarcerates protesters and opponents. According to Prisoners Defenders, there were 1,214 documented political prisoners in Cuba at the end of February 2026. A first pardon in March, following mediation by the Vatican, released 51 individuals, of whom only between 19 and 27 were political prisoners according to independent organizations.
Otero Alcántara was arrested on July 11, 2021, while attempting to join the anti-government protests of July 11 and sentenced to five years in prison for disrespecting national symbols, disobedience, and public disorder. Throughout his incarceration, he has staged multiple hunger strikes: the one in January-February 2022 resulted in partial facial paralysis and an eye injury. Amnesty International recognizes him as a prisoner of conscience and demands his immediate release.
"There has been a lot of support, much solidarity towards him, many expressions of affection, and he has also received significant media attention across all sectors. He knows he is not alone," concluded Ramos, in a message that encapsulates both the international backing for the artist and the structural isolation to which the regime condemns all its political prisoners.
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