The Cuban artist and activist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara would be traveling “tomorrow [Saturday] to the U.S. to seek asylum,” “according to an official from the U.S. embassy,” confirmed journalist Patrick Oppmann, from CNN. The news comes after the humanitarian parole application was approved after weeks of efforts, although the founder of the San Isidro Movement (MSI) remains in the custody of State Security and whereabouts unknown.
The artist's official Facebook page confirmed this on Friday with a statement: "After several weeks of ongoing efforts, we announce that Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara's parole application to enter the United States has been approved."
However, those who are closer to Otero Alcántara warn that his freedom is not guaranteed until the very last moment. Activist Anamely Ramos, a key figure of the MSI in exile, held a live broadcast on Facebook this Friday to urge calm and clarify the limits of what can be stated with certainty.
"Luis Manuel will not be free until he sets foot on the plane," said Ramos, who explained that it would be irresponsible to disclose the exact time and place of arrival while the artist remains under the regime's control. "Saying otherwise right now is irresponsible," he insisted. Martí Noticias, for its part, stated that "the artist would arrive in Miami in the coming hours."
Ramos described the conditions under which Otero has communicated with her since his arrest: calls made from the State Security's phone, on speakerphone and with no privacy. She characterized the whole process as inherently violent, even in its most hopeful outcome. “This is a process that remains violent; it is, and it will be even when Luis Manuel reaches Miami, when Luis Manuel can finally embrace us,” she stated.
The activist also pointed out what she believes is the regime's motivation for allowing his departure: "Possibly, the Cuban state right now just wants to get rid of Luis Manuel, at least to remove him from national territory."
Otero Alcántara was supposed to be released on July 9, 2026, the date when his five-year sentence imposed following the protests on July 11, 2021, officially ended. However, on July 7, State Security agents transferred him from the maximum-security prison in Guanajay without notifying his family or revealing his destination. Since then, he has remained missing in the custody of political police, somewhere in Havana.
The organization Cubalex filed a habeas corpus petition on July 13, which the regime ignored, failing to meet the legal time frame of 72 hours to respond. The UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances also activated actions regarding the case, and Amnesty International recognized him as a prisoner of conscience.
The artist's official page emphasized that exile is not a free choice: "Since early 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 fallen upon him. State Security has left him with no other option to be released from prison."
The case of Otero Alcántara fits into a pattern that the regime has applied with other political prisoners from July 11: forced exile as a mechanism to dispose of uncomfortable figures without granting them formal release. Activist Sissi Abascal went into exile in Miami in May 2026, and opposition leader José Daniel Ferrer was exiled in 2025. Meanwhile, human rights organizations reported in May 2026 between 775 and 1,281 political prisoners in Cuba, of which 338 are directly linked to the protests of July 11.
Ramos urged the Cuban community to wait for the official announcement before heading to the airport, and he reminded everyone that Otero's arrival does not conclude the struggle: "The only important thing here is that we still have a dictatorship. We are still fighting against that dictatorship. We still have hundreds of political prisoners in jails."
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