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Cuban artist and dissident exiled from country after 5 years in prison arrives in US
NPR • • general
Key Points:
- Cuban dissident artist and musician Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara arrived in Miami after being released from a five-year prison sentence on the condition that he leave Cuba.
- Alcántara was greeted by supporters waving Cuban flags with "Patria y Vida," a song he co-wrote that became an anthem for Cuba's political opposition.
- The United States granted him parole earlier this week, and Alcántara accepted exile to escape persecution and continue his activism.
- He co-founded the San Isidro Movement, was arrested during a 2021 protest, and sentenced in 2022 for public disorder and disrespect toward national symbols, charges denounced as politically motivated by human rights groups.
- Advocates remained uncertain of his whereabouts until his departure, and while Alcántara is free, other political prisoners, including fellow artist Maykel "Osorbo" Castillo Pérez, remain imprisoned.
