14ymedio, Havana, 1 February 2024 — “Nothing takes away my drive because since I was a child I fell in love with the eternal, so I will not leave my work, our work, unfinished.”
This is how the message from Cuban artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara sent from prison begins, released this Wednesday by Amnesty International.
Alcántara, leader of the San Isidro Movement, who has been in the Guanajay maximum security prison, in Artemisa, since 11 July 2021, when he was detained before being able to join the massive protests that day. He assures that he fights, in that “horrible” place, to be able to have a “deep sleep.” There, he says, his soul “goes out for a walk” with his loved ones. “Look, in two years I have never had a nightmare, so nothing has stoned the gifts of creation,” he says.
The artist, 36 years old, has carried out several hunger and thirst strikes since he has been imprisoned, to demand his freedom and to protest mistreatment by prison authorities.
“The family just waits for me. I fight because they won’t erase the benders in Havana, they won’t erase the millions of orgasms, the birth of my children
With this audio, Alcántara confirms that he remains strong, despite the suffering of which he has been a victim: “The family is just waiting for me. I fight because they will not erase the benders in Havana, they will not erase the millions of orgasms, the birth of my children, the hugs o