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The artist and political prisoner Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara remains missing this Wednesday, a day after agents of State Security removed him from the maximum-security prison in Guanajay, Artemisa, without informing his family or loved ones about his whereabouts.
Uncertainty persists just hours before the scheduled date for the completion of the five-year sentence imposed on him in 2022. So far, Cuban authorities have not provided any official information about his whereabouts nor have they allowed him to communicate with his family or friends.
The activist Anamely Ramos, a friend and the main public spokesperson for the artist during his imprisonment, confirmed that the situation has not changed since Tuesday.
«The information we have today is the same as we had yesterday. They took him from prison, and we don't know where he is. He has not been allowed to communicate with his family or friends,» she wrote on social media.
Ramos insisted that there are no conflicting accounts regarding what happened. "The information is not confusing, nor are there a thousand versions; this is the confirmed information we have about what is happening at present," he stated.
On Tuesday, she had been even more emphatic in describing the situation: "Right now, Luis Manuel is missing. He is not free. He is not released. He is in the hands of State Security somewhere in Havana."
According to the activist, the family confirmed that Otero Alcántara is neither at his home in El Cerro nor in the San Isidro neighborhood. The only evidence that he was transferred from prison came from other inmates.
"If we know that he was taken from Guanajay, it is because of the solidarity of other prisoners," he specified.
In statements to Martí Noticias, Yanelys Núñez, in charge of the work and the artist's official page, agreed with her acquaintances' assessment: “Until we have firsthand news, we consider him missing.”
In recent months, human rights organizations had warned about the possibility that Cuban authorities would resort to new charges or measures to prevent their release, a practice that they claim has been used previously against other opponents.
The transfer also coincided with the intervention of the United States Ambassador to the UN, Mike Waltz, at the General Assembly. During his speech, the diplomat displayed photographs of Cuban political prisoners and began his remarks by mentioning Otero Alcántara.
"Her crime was being an artist," she stated.
Concern for his/her health condition
The artist's temporary disappearance comes after several months marked by complaints about the conditions of his imprisonment.
In March of this year, agents from Department 21 of State Security threatened him with death inside the prison, according to reports from his associates, which triggered an eight-day hunger strike between March 30 and April 6.
On July 5th, just three days before his transfer, the Cultural Rights Observatory of Cuba issued an alert regarding the deterioration of his health.
In April, the People's Supreme Court rejected the habeas corpus appeal filed by Cubalex and upheld that he must serve his entire sentence until July 9, without granting any good behavior benefits. Furthermore, the regime did not include him among the recipients of the presidential pardon granted that same month.
Amnesty International recognizes him as a prisoner of conscience and calls for his immediate and unconditional release, without surveillance or restrictions. Meanwhile, the organization Prisoners Defenders documented a total of 1,281 political prisoners in Cuba in June 2026, the highest number recorded by that organization.
In the absence of official information, Ramos urged the public to remain focused on the case and encouraged the media to also reach out to Yanelys Núñez, Salomé García, Katherine Bisquet, and Camila Lobón to learn about any updates.
"All the pressure we apply is important. Hopefully, tomorrow we will have many more clear things to say. No one wants it more than we do," he concluded.
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