The Cuban artist and activist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara published a reflection on Instagram regarding the regime's deliberate strategy of using imprisonment to isolate political prisoners from their loved ones, in a statement that combines personal testimony and solidarity with those who remain incarcerated.
"In prison, one needs to know that they still exist in the memories of those they love. The fear of being forgotten slips into the cell with you. You wonder if they still mention your name, if they miss you, if time and distance are erasing your place in their lives," he wrote.
Otero Alcántara, co-founder of the San Isidro Movement, served five years in prison at the maximum-security prison in Guanajay before being exiled to Miami last July.
In the text, the visual artist goes beyond personal testimony to highlight a systematic tactic: "The dictatorship uses confinement to destroy friendship and family. It interrupts gatherings, limits phone calls, and monitors words. It aims to wear down connections until one feels alone, until loving someone imprisoned turns into fear, exhaustion, or an unbearable wait."
In response to that strategy of isolation, the political prisoner opposed it with creation as a form of resistance and to maintain emotional connections: "If the dictatorship wanted to destroy our closeness, I insisted on giving it a form. I made art a place to stay together, where affection could remain and from where to claim my right to return to the lives of my loved ones."
During his five years of incarceration, Otero Alcántara produced approximately 4,000 works—drawings and paintings on paper, cardboard, kraft paper, and sketch pads—using materials sent by friends, while the authorities in Guanajay prohibited him from taking his creations out of prison.
The post, which features portraits of his friend, journalist and writer Carlos Manuel Álvarez, includes the hashtags #freemaykelosorbo, #freedomforpoliticalprisoners, and #freedomsforcubans, demonstrating his solidarity with those who remain incarcerated.
According to Prisoners Defenders, as of October 1, 2026, Cuba held 1,372 individuals deprived of their liberty for political reasons, including 40 minors.
Otero Alcántara was arrested on July 11, 2021, while trying to join the protests of 11J, and was sentenced in June 2022 to five years in prison for contempt, public disorder, and insulting national symbols, in a trial held behind closed doors.
Amnesty International recognized him as a prisoner of conscience. After formally completing his sentence, State Security kept him detained for several days without his family knowing his whereabouts, until he arrived in Miami on July 18, 2026, under a U.S. humanitarian permit.
From exile, the artist has maintained an intense public presence. Last week, he stated that "corruption is the major problem of the Cuban dictatorship" in an interview with the Argentine newspaper La Nación, and in August, he warned the EFE agency that conditions in Cuba exist for a "devastating social explosion", potentially greater than the protests of 2021.
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