The Cuban filmmaker Ernesto Fundora revealed this week that he has maintained three phone calls with Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara from the maximum-security prison in Guanajay over the past ten days, and that the activist is closely following the ongoing negotiations regarding his possible release.
"Well, I want to give you an exclusive: I have had three phone calls in the last 10 days with Luis Manuel. He has called me from prison, and we have been talking. The first call lasted about half an hour, the second about 20 minutes, and the third also about half an hour," Fundora stated in an interview with Tania Costa for CiberCuba.
The filmmaker described the artist and leader of the San Isidro Movement as "euphoric," "very happy," and with "a lot of serenity" regarding what is happening.
"He is very aware of what is happening; he has shared his core concerns regarding the negotiations, which essentially focus on a community perspective," Fundora added.
Otero Alcántara has been serving his sentence in Guanajay since July 11, 2021, after being arrested during the mass protests of July 11 and sentenced to five years in prison for "insulting national symbols," "disobedience," and "public disorder."
In February, Fundora presented his biographical documentary on Otero Alcántara, titled 'We Are Connected', and he took the opportunity to portray the activist as a unifying figure for the Cuban exile community in Miami.
"It seems to me that of all the people I know, he is the one who embodies compassion, empathy, a vocation for consensus and unification. He is the least confrontational, the least violent, the most spiritual, the most family-oriented, the most gregarious, and he has worked closely with the people in the neighborhood, displaying an extraordinary human empathy," stated the director.
Fundora contrasted that figure with the professional politicians of the exile, whom he criticized harshly: "Luis Manuel is a born leader, true and established, formed in an organic genealogy of the deep social reality of Cuba."
"It has nothing to do with these people representing us in exile who wander from salon to salon, from palace to palace, from court to court dressed in Gucci, in Chanel, which I find horrific," the director added.
The filmmaker noted that the documentary has gathered representatives from the five historical communities of the Miami exile —from the bourgeoisie of the fifties and sixties to the young people who arrived after the Obama era and the pandemic— which he attributes to the current political climate in Cuba.
"Luis Manuel is a man who has his feet in the mud, who stands in the slush with the people and knows how to both laugh and cry about the Cuban situation, and I believe that this makes him unmatched," Fundora concluded.
The calls occur at a time of high tension: in March 2026, State Security agents threatened Otero and other prisoners with death during an inspection of the cells, and the People's Supreme Court confirmed in April that his sentence extends until July 9, 2026.
Fundora also revealed that Otero confessed his intention to travel directly to Miami as soon as he is released, and that this is not just a personal desire: "It seems that is what he has discussed with the authorities because he tells me this very emphatically, and in addition to being his desire, there are two aspects to consider. It's a pact."
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