Cuban dissident artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara cleared to travel to US

Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, a prominent Cuban dissident artist whose whereabouts remained unknown after his prison sentence ended last week, has been given permission to travel to the US, according to his official Facebook page.

Otero Alcántara, designated a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International, was sentenced to five years in prison in 2022 for insulting national symbols, contempt and disturbing the public order.

He was detained in July 2021 as he was leaving his home in Havana to join unprecedented mass protests across the communist island.

On Friday, a post on a Facebook page managed by his close friends read: “The parole application of Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara to enter the United States has been approved.”

In this instance, “parole” refers to entering and temporarily residing in the US.

The 38-year-old was transferred from a prison to a state security force facility on 7 July, two days before finishing his term.

Cuban authorities have not provided any information about his whereabouts since then.

Cubalex, a Miami-based charity, on Thursday denounced what it viewed as an “illegal denial of freedom”.

Communist officials wanted to isolate the artist while he awaited permission to be exiled to the US, according to Cubalex.

Havana has accused him of acting on behalf of Washington to destabilise Cuba.

Prisoners Defenders, a human rights organisation, said earlier this month that it documented a total of 1,306 political prisoners in Cuba.

It added that 40 were arrested as minors, the highest number recorded by the organisation to date, of whom 16 remain in prisons and detention centres intended for adults.

In March, Cuban officials held talks with the US government amid a punishing US fuel blockade and frequent power failures.

After the US military’s abduction of Venezuelan president and Cuba ally Nicolás Maduro in January, President Donald Trump signed an executive order effectively placing the Caribbean island under an oil blockade.