The former American president George W. Bush will include a self-painted portrait of the Cuban artist and activist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara in his upcoming book.
The Call of Freedom: Portraits of Political Prisoners and Dissidents is a work that gathers images of 44 oil portraits and the stories of figures persecuted worldwide for their political beliefs, ethnicity, gender, or religion.
The George W. Bush Presidential Center pointed out that Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara is among those depicted, and according to images from the book, the Cuban is featured on the cover alongside figures such as Nelson Mandela, the Dalai Lama, former Czech President Václav Havel, Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, Nicaraguan Bishop Rolando José Álvarez Lagos, and young Iranian Kurdish woman Jina Mahsa Amini, whose death in police custody in 2022 triggered a wave of protests in Iran.
The book will be published by Crown, a division of Penguin Random House, and will be available starting on March 9, 2027, with a price of $42 for the hardcover edition and $250 for the signed luxury edition.
The publication will coincide with an exhibition of portraits at the Bush Presidential Center in Dallas, Texas. The preface is by the writer and former political prisoner in the Soviet Union, Natan Sharansky.
The recognition comes just two months after Otero Alcántara arrived in Miami on July 18 after serving a five-year sentence imposed by the Cuban regime.
The co-founder of the San Isidro Movement was arrested on July 11, 2021, during the largest popular protests that Cuba has experienced in decades. In June 2022, a court convicted him on charges of contempt, public disorder, and insult to national symbols, a sentence that was upheld by the Supreme Court in April 2026.
Days before his official release, State Security took him out of prison without informing anyone of his whereabouts, causing international alarm and reports of enforced disappearance.
Since his arrival in exile, Otero Alcántara has quickly resumed his artistic and public activities. He exhibited at the Freedom Tower in Miami works created during his imprisonment and, in recent days, he was honored by the organization Freedom House in a ceremony recognizing his career.
Bush, who began painting after leaving the presidency in 2009, had previously published Portraits of Courage (2017), a book of portraits dedicated to war veterans. His Presidential Center also maintains a collection of testimonies from dissidents around the world, including Cubans.
The inclusion of Otero Alcántara alongside historical figures of global resistance is one of the most prominent recognitions the Cuban activist has received since his release from prison. Furthermore, it showcases his story to a global audience that the book will reach starting in March 2027.
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