The arrival of Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara in Miami on July 19 sparked an unexpected controversy: his physical condition does not match the deteriorated image that many anticipated after five years in the high-security prison of Guanajay. The exiled Cuban journalist and writer Luis Felipe Rojas dismantles both the surprise and the ideological interpretations surrounding the case.
Rojas, interviewed by Tania Costa in CiberCuba, emphasized that the response to Otero's physical condition has two layers. The first is strategic: State Security had every incentive to maintain the image of the country's most prominent political prisoner. "It's no secret that he was one of the prisoners, if not the most covered by international media, who made it to the pages of The New York Times. It's no secret that State Security would be careful about that, that they wouldn't let him come out in a deteriorated state," he said.
The second layer is physiological and is supported by the direct testimony of the journalist. "I have friends from the neighborhood who came out of prison after five, ten years, four years, one year—I can say it this way because it's my testimony—much heavier than when they entered. Why? Because they eat a lot of carbohydrates, because they eat practically stews, as we Cubans say," Rojas explains, using the Cuban term to refer to a mix of leftovers and low-quality food, combined with the lack of exercise in the correctional facilities.
At this point, he mentioned that many of these political prisoners, especially the more well-known ones, receive at least 100 dollars from either friends or organizations.
Luis Felipe Rojas also contextualizes that not all political prisoners are released under the same conditions. During the interview, they mentioned the case of an inmate who was released with cancer and in a severely deteriorated state, emphasizing that the circumstances vary depending on the profile of the prisoner and the regime's interest in its public image. Otero, whose case was closely monitored by international organizations such as Amnesty International, represented a high-risk prisoner of conscience for Havana.
Beyond the debate about Otero's physical condition, Rojas rejects the idea that Luis Manuel could be absorbed by any ideological current. "He is an artist; he is someone who, outside of prison, took advantage of his space to express what he thought, but he also used that space to complete a performance that he started and has not finished. His performance is his life, his behavior, his way of expressing things," he argues.
And he warns those who try to pigeonhole him: "Whoever wants to bring him to their side will practically find themselves stuck on the left, because he is someone who will say things as he thinks them, he will say them when he wants, he will say them the way he wants, and they are not always well received."
In that same vein, the boxer Yordenis Ugás publicly came out this Tuesday to defend Otero, accusing the Cuban regime of deliberately orchestrating that image to divide the Cuban community in exile.
Tania Costa also revealed that she requested an interview with Otero for this outlet, but he sent her an audio message explaining his position. "Yesterday, Luis Manuel sent me an audio explaining that right now he needs to focus on certain things, and until he has completed those tasks and resolved them, he prefers not to give interviews. He explained to me the circumstances under which he gave the interview to Martí Noticias. I understood him, and all I can say is that the doors of CiberCuba are open."
Rojas concluded his analysis with a reflection that transcends the debate about weight: "It is a shame for humanity that here we are in the 21st century criticizing the weight of someone who has just come out of prison after five years unjustly incarcerated for speaking their mind."
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