The Rafto Foundation has awarded prizes to defenders of democracy, including four people who later received the Nobel Peace Prize
EFE (via 14ymedio), Copenhagen, 19 September 2024 — Cuban artist and activist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara was awarded the Rafto Human Rights Prize in Norway on Thursday “For his fearless resistance against an authoritarian regime through art.”
The award citation notes that Otero Alcántara, 36 and currently in prison, “has been arrested countless times for his activism” and that his works are “strongly critical of restrictions on freedom of expression.”
Otero Alcántara leads the San Isidro Movement, founded in 2018, which brings together artists, musicians, journalists and academics “who promote freedom of expression” and oppose the so-called Decree 349, which requires creators to be registered with Cuba’s Ministry of Culture, from which they must request permission to perform and exhibit their work.
“The 2024 Rafto Prize aims to highlight the importance of the work of Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara and other artists in challenging power structures and defending democracy and human rights in Cuba and around the world,” said the jury, which urged the Cuban government to release the activist, along with all “political prisoners” a