The Cuban artist and activist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara staged two performance interventions on Friday on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. to commemorate International Political Prisoners Day, demanding the release of Maykel Osorbo and Lizandra Góngora.
The central event, documented on his Instagram account, consisted of replicating the iconic gesture of Maykel Osorbo from April 4, 2021, when the musician escaped from a police detention in Havana with a wristband on and raised it before a crowd as a symbol of resistance.
"With this performance, I recall Maykel's gesture when he raised the handcuffs for the freedom of Cuba. From today until December 10, I will wear these handcuffs as a commitment to those who are still imprisoned," Otero Alcántara wrote upon posting the video.
The artist announced that he will wear the handcuffs until December 10, International Human Rights Day, as a gesture of solidarity with Cuban political prisoners.
The two central figures of the tribute were Maykel Castillo Pérez —known as Maykel Osorbo, co-author of "Patria y Vida" and sentenced to nine years in prison since June 2022— and Lizandra Góngora Espinosa, mother of five children, who is serving 14 years for her participation in the protests of July 11, 2021, the longest sentence handed down to a woman among those detained on 11J.
“Maykel Osorbo is an artist, a musician, who is imprisoned for singing a song, for mobilizing a nation with a song,” he stated during the performance.
Regarding Góngora, he noted that his five children will be deprived of their mother for 14 years "unless that dictatorship falls."
The event was part of the "Roll Call for Freedom", organized by the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and the October 30 Coalition — which includes Freedom House, Human Rights Foundation, McCain Institute, Free Russia Foundation, and other organizations — with the goal of publicly reading the names of political prisoners from various countries.
In his second intervention of the day, Otero Alcántara explained the personal significance of the performance: he himself served five years in prison in Cuba before being expelled by the regime to exile in Miami in July 2026.
She chose to dress in bright colors, a stark contrast to the years spent in a gray prison uniform: "I spent five years in a gray uniform, and today I decided to wear colors to convey life and energy to my brother Maykel Osorbo and to all political prisoners around the world."
"After five years in prison, I know how much it means to know that you are not forgotten out there. I am in exile, but my freedom remains incomplete as long as you are imprisoned," he affirmed.
This action is part of an intense activism agenda since his arrival in exile. In mid-October, Otero Alcántara spoke at the UN headquarters in New York during a forum on the repression of the Cuban regime, where members of the official delegation from Havana interrupted the event with shouts.
According to data from Prisoners Defenders as of October 1, 2026, Cuba holds at least 1,372 individuals imprisoned for political reasons, including 40 minors.
"Maykel Osorbo and Lizandra Góngora are two examples of the struggle of the Cuban people for their freedoms for over 60 years. We only ask for Homeland and Life," concluded the artist in front of the Lincoln monument.
Related videos:
Filed under: