The Cuban filmmaker Ernesto Fundora revealed that Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara confided in him during a recent phone conversation his intention to travel directly to Miami as soon as he is released from prison, which is expected to happen this summer.
"He confessed to me a few days ago that yes, he is coming to Miami as soon as he is released, he is coming to Miami. It is an unfinished chapter in his career, in his journey, because he now sees this as a path of spiritual and personal growth," Fundora stated in an interview with CiberCuba.
Fundora, who just presented the biographical documentary "Estamos Conectados" about the life of the activist, went further to describe the plan: it is not just a personal desire.
"It seems that this is what he has discussed with the authorities, because he tells me this very emphatically, and besides being his desire, it is both things. It is a pact," the filmmaker stated.
Otero's release is expected in June or July 2026. "God willing, he will be out in June. We are all waiting for him to be released this summer, in June or July, he should be out by now, according to what we've been told, because some time that should have been deducted hasn’t been accounted for," Fundora stated.
The Supreme People's Court of Cuba upheld Otero's conviction on April 7, confirming that the sentence expires on July 9, 2026, and rejecting Cubalex's arguments regarding reductions for preventive detention and good behavior that could have allowed for early release.
Fundora explained the reasons that lead the young man to make that decision: if he stays in Cuba after his release, he will be completely isolated. "He knows that leaving prison, if he stays in Cuba, look, he has almost no one left from his movement. Everyone is outside and the others are in prison," the director warned.
The filmmaker cited the case of José Daniel Ferrer as a direct warning: "He will be besieged, watched, restricted, just like José Daniel Ferrer, who was released only to be imprisoned again." Ferrer, leader of UNPACU, was released in January 2025, re-arrested in April of that year, and ultimately exiled to Miami in October 2025 under pressure from the United States.
Otero is also aware that the regime will block all digital communication if he remains on the Island. "His message can be projected beyond a digital confinement that he will face within Cuba, as they will be blocking all phones, all connectivity, everything," Fundora explained.
This stance aligns with what Otero himself expressed in February, when he described himself as "a kind of bargaining chip" in the tensions between Cuba and the Trump administration.
The activist has maintained telephone contact with Fundora and others from the maximum security prison of Guanajay, in Artemisa, where he has been serving his sentence since his arrest on July 11, 2021.
Fundora also shared his own perspective on the political transition in Cuba, which aligns with that of the activist. "I told him: Luis, look, I’m on this side of the pond and I’m thinking like you. I see this transition that isn’t going to be as we envision it. As we have dreamed it. A redemptive vision that we will wake up to a new Cuba," the filmmaker recalled, who described Alcántara as an emblem of his time with the ability to unify the Cuban exile community in Miami.
The visual artist recently published an opinion piece in The New York Times from prison, denouncing the systematic denial of penitentiary benefits by the regime. Amnesty International has declared him a prisoner of conscience and demands his immediate release.
"He knows that he has entered another evolutionary cycle in his career as an artist, as an activist or member of an opposition movement. He has greater responsibility, he emerges with a different perspective," concluded Fundora, anticipating a new stage for the leader of the San Isidro Movement once he crosses the prison gates.
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