Cuban artist and dissident exiled from country after 5 years in prison arrives in US
Cuban dissident artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara has arrived in the United States after being released from a five-year prison sentence. His release was conditional on his permanent exile from Cuba, ending his long-standing detention for political activism.
Why it matters
Highlights ongoing human rights issues in Cuba and the use of forced exile as a tool against political dissidents.
MIAMI — A famous Cuban dissident artist and musician, Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, arrived in Miami on Saturday after being released from a five-year prison sentence on the condition that he leave his country.
Alcántara, 38, was greeted at the airport by a crowd that was cheering, singing and holding their phones high in the air to get a photo of him. They draped him in a Cuban flag, printed with the words "Patria y Vida" — "Homeland and Life" — the title of a song he shared a Grammy for that became an anthem for Cuba's political opposition against repression.
The United States granted him parole into the country earlier this week, according to a social media page maintained by his friends and supporters. They wrote that he accepted exile as the only way to escape persecution and continue his art and activism.
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