Cuban dissident artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara transferred to hospital after eight days of hunger strike

Cuban artist and dissident Luis Manuel Otero Alcantara He was admitted to a Havana hospital on Sunday after more than seven declared days of hunger and thirst strike, the capital’s Provincial Directorate of Health reported.

The leader of the San Isidro movement (MSI), 33, arrived at Calixto García hospital in Havana.with a referral of voluntary famine», The agency said in an informative note.

The text assures that “no signs of malnutrition“And that Otero Alcántara presents” normal clinical and biochemical parameters “.

The Provincial Directorate of Health also indicated that the artist arrived at the hospital “in medical transport, in a conscious state and wandering without difficulty”.

It is not yet known how the authorities evicted the opponent from his home in the popular district of San Isidro, where he remained entrenched and declared a hunger and thirst strike since Saturday April 24. ..

A few hours ago, the San Isidro Movement published a message from Otero: “If the Cuban regime lets me die, it is its absurd intransigence that killed me. Thanks to everyone who did everything to save me, I will fight to the last breath for my free art“.

Subsequently, MSI reported that the activist was taken to an unknown location. After hearing the hospital report, members of the collective were skeptical of the report.

After the announcement of his transfer to the hospital, Efe tried unsuccessfully to contact the artist, whose phone is turned off. On Saturday, Efe had a brief text message with him, in which he claimed to find himself “without the courage or the energy to speak” and with muscle pain.

The day before, the Chancellor of the Archdiocese of Havana, Mgr Ramón Suárez Polcari, explained to Efe that the dissident, whom he had just met, was “in very bad conditions” and “exhausted”.

Efe also tried to visit the artist’s home to check on his health, but State security agents prevented passage.

It all started two weeks ago, when Cuban security forces raided Otero Alcántara’s home, destroyed more than a dozen works he was exhibiting and took him into custody.

After denouncing continued arrests and intimidation in the dungeon for the next ten days, he went on a hunger and thirst strike to demand compensation for the destroyed works and a public apology, as well as the removal of the barrier. police in the neighborhood and surveillance. camera installed in front of your door.

Several institutions and organizations have expressed their concern, including the US State Department, the European Parliament’s Human Rights Subcommittee or Amnesty International (AI), which called on artists and activists to show solidarity with the MSI.

Cuban authorities, for their part, consider Otero Alcántara and other opponents to be “mercenaries” who work for the CIA or other American entities to carry out subversive activities against the current socialist system.

(With information from EFE)