The environment of the Cuban artist and activist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara announced this Friday that the request for humanitarian parole to allow him to enter the United States has been approved, after several weeks of ongoing efforts.
The announcement, published on the artist's official Facebook profile, clarified, however, that his situation remains critical: Otero Alcántara is currently missing, held by the Cuban State Security.
"Luis should have been released since July 9, when his unjust sentence of five years ended, yet he remains in the hands of the political police, in a location we cannot pinpoint," the statement noted.
"As soon as we have any clear information regarding his possible departure from Cuba, we will communicate it through this channel," the message concluded.
The artist was released from the Guanajay prison, in the province of Artemisa, on July 7 by State Security agents, without notification to his family and without informing them of his destination. His sentence officially ended two days later, but he was not returned home.
The activist and professor Anamely Ramos was able to speak briefly with him that same day from a State Security phone and confirmed: "He is not free, he is not released, he is in the hands of State Security somewhere in Havana."
The statement explains that the approval of the parole represents the only viable option for the artist: "Since the beginning of 2023, Luis has accepted exile as the only way to continue his work as an artist and activist, after enduring all the repression that has been directed at him. State Security has left him no other option for being released from prison."
The application was processed using Form I-131 with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) as an individual humanitarian parole, the only available immigration route since the Trump administration canceled the collective program for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans in March 2025.
The case has generated a growing international response. On July 12, the UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances activated an Urgent Action under file AU No. 2357/2026, at the request of Cubalex, demanding that the Cuban regime provide information about the artist's whereabouts before July 25.
Amnesty International described the situation as enforced disappearance and demanded his immediate and unconditional release. The organization recognizes Otero Alcántara as a prisoner of conscience since 2021.
On July 13, a habeas corpus petition was also presented in his favor. An activist who tried to deliver it was detained for two days by the Cuban authorities.
This is not the first time Otero Alcántara has suffered a forced disappearance. In July 2021, on the eve of the historic protests of July 11, he was detained without informing his family in a case recorded by the UN Committee under file AU 1208/2021.
Otero Alcántara, leader of the San Isidro Movement, was sentenced in June 2022 to five years in prison on charges of "offending national symbols," "disobedience," and "public disorder," which international organizations view as a direct reprisal for his cultural and political activism.
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