The Cuban artist and dissident Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara stated this Saturday that he "had to be honest" during an interview granted to journalist Tania Costa for CiberCuba, in which he reflects on the decisions he has made throughout his career, his stance towards the Cuban regime, and the personal consequences of holding onto his convictions.
Days after being released and exiled from Cuba, his statements are part of a conversation where he discusses his release, his forced departure, the criticisms he has received, the horrors of the prisons he leaves behind, and the situation of his friend and member of the San Isidro Movement, Maykel Castillo.
Otero Alcántara explained that he could not present a false or exaggerated version of what he experienced in prison in order to receive applause, gain acceptance, or conform to a specific narrative.
“I have to be honest, I cannot arrive at a place being dishonest, because then what kind of Cuba am I building? A Cuba that accommodates me?” he expressed during the conversation.
The founder of the San Isidro Movement acknowledged that it would have been easier to simply assert that the dictatorship had kept him hostage and to repeat a narrative that, he said, many people expected from him. However, he maintained that doing so would have meant failing to be truthful about his personal experience.
"The easiest thing would have been to respond: 'The dictatorship had me kidnapped,' this entire story, this whole narrative that we know is what people expected, what works and would have earned me applause from everyone. But I wasn't going to be honest, I wasn't going to be honest about what happened to me," he emphasized.
The artist clarified that his description of the conditions he faced is not intended to deny or minimize the experiences of other political prisoners and dissidents within Cuban prisons.
He indicated that there are different forms of violence, various penitentiary situations, and treatments that can differ from one inmate to another.
Otero believed that his high level of public visibility might have led the prison authorities to treat him differently than other opposition members.
For this reason, he insisted that his experience should not be interpreted as a general representation of what happens in the island's prisons.
"You have to be smart and realize that, at my level of visibility, or rather, that I myself undoubtedly receive different treatment, just like other people do," he stated.
He also rejected that acknowledging this reality means "whitewashing" the Cuban regime.
The opponent argued that one cannot fight corruption and the lies of the regime by resorting to dishonesty oneself.
"The dictatorship is not honest, the dictatorship is corrupt, the dictatorship is dishonest, the dictatorship tells lies about people. So I cannot be dishonest," he asserted during the interview.
The conversation also addressed the criticism received by Otero Alcántara from certain sectors of the exile community after his arrival in the United States.
The artist stated that he was not surprised by the reactions, as he knew from the moment he took on his role as a creator and activist that he would be surrounded by controversy.
He explained that some people use these controversies as a joke, a source of humor, or a tool to gain followers and become trending, while others may be genuinely confused.
Otero compared those discussions to the process of muscle growth, which requires breaking its fibers in order to strengthen.
"For a muscle to grow, it must break down. You work out, and the muscle tears, and it's during that tearing that new fibers form, which leads to muscle growth. The brain works the same way," he stated, while arguing that certain controversies can help to open the mind and provoke reflection.
The artist also spoke about the physical and psychological difficulties he has faced after spending five years locked away, surrounded by white and gray walls.
He said that one of the biggest challenges has been understanding and readjusting to the external environment, to distances, to transportation, to the abundance of information, and even to the act of walking.
Otero assured that he left prison with atrophied muscles and compared that physical deterioration to the effect incarceration had on his mind. "At first, you start to walk again; it's one of the most difficult things," he recounted.
Describing the contrast between prison and the outside world, he stated that he now sees "a lot of beautiful things," although he emphasized that his perception is shaped by the years spent in a space he described as horrible.
He noted that even within the prison, he found people, friendships, and positive actions, although that does not make the incarceration a good experience.
"The dialectic suggests that there are bad things that have good aspects. So these are good things that have bad aspects," he summarized when referring to the contrast between life inside and outside of prison.
Otero Alcántara arrived in Miami on July 18, 2026, after serving a five-year sentence and being forced to leave Cuba under conditions of exile.
Human rights organizations reported that Cuban authorities imposed permanent exile from the country as the price for regaining their freedom.
The artist had officially completed his sentence on July 9, but he was taken out of the maximum-security prison in Guanajay and remained under the control of State Security for several days, with his family and close friends unaware of his whereabouts.
He was subsequently transferred to the United States and welcomed at Miami International Airport by activists, journalists, friends, and members of the Cuban exile community.
A story of repression
Otero Alcántara was arrested on July 11, 2021, while attempting to participate in the anti-government protests that took place that day in Cuba.
In 2022, he was sentenced to five years in prison for the crimes of contempt, public disorder, and disrespect for national symbols. Amnesty International recognized him as a prisoner of conscience and asserted that he should never have remained incarcerated for exercising his rights to freedom of expression and artistic creation.
During the interview with Tania Costa, the activist also defended the ongoing significance of the San Isidro Movement and stated that the Cuban authorities are aware of the mobilization capacity that the group has achieved, as well as that of figures like the rapper and political prisoner Maykel «Osorbo» Castillo Pérez.
“They are drowning, they are throwing tantrums of the drowning” and they undoubtedly know the strength that the San Isidro Movement had and still has today,” Otero stated, referring to Castillo Pérez as his friend and brother, and highlighting his ability to mobilize others.
Otero Alcántara's statements reflect his intention to defend a personal narrative of his imprisonment without generalizing it or using it to deny the repression suffered by other opponents.
His main argument is that the Cuba he hopes to build cannot be based on the same practices of lies, manipulation, and dishonesty that he attributes to the regime that imprisoned him and ultimately forced him to leave his country.
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