Cuban artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcantara, of the protest movement San Isidro, was arrested Monday (April 5) in Havana along with three other people, when he wanted to distribute candy to children as part of an artistic performance.
In addition, in the east of the country, the wife and daughter of dissident José Daniel Ferrer, currently on hunger strike, were also arrested, the opponent said.
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In the morning, the police blocked access to Damascus Street, in the historic district of Havana, AFP journalists noted.
This is where the headquarters of the San Isidro Movement is located, which rose to prominence in November when a dozen activists took refuge there for ten days to demand the release of a rapper.
According to a video posted on social networks, the leader of the movement, the artist performer and painter Luis Manuel Otero Alcantara, was arrested along with three other people, as he tried to cross the police cordon to give candy to the children. .
This activity was part of an installation of paintings by the artist depicting confectionery wrappers, which he said Cuban children do not have access to due to shortages in the country.
State television on Friday denounced the motives for the activity as an attempt to destabilize, saying the San Isidro movement is funded by the National Democratic Institute in the United States, a think tank led by the ex-secretary of 'State Madeleine Albright.
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The activity with the children was initially scheduled for Sunday, the 60th anniversary of the Union of Pioneers of Cuba, an organization of young people and adolescents founded by Fidel Castro (1926-2016).
On Sunday, dozens of curious and locals gathered on Damascus Street, singing protest songs and shouting slogans against President Miguel Diaz-Canel, an unusual demonstration in Cuba.
Faced with strong police surveillance, the activity was postponed to Monday.
The image of one of the members of the movement, rapper Maykel Osorbo, raising his fist with a handcuff attached after escaping an attempted arrest with the help of locals, was widely shared on social media on Monday.
"After a Sunday of repression and the support of the Cuban people, we are ready for the collective birthday of the children of San Isidro,"
Luis Manuel Otero Alcantara wrote on Twitter Monday morning.
According to him, the activity was aimed at supporting the action of the Patriotic Union of Cuba (Unpacu), a dissident organization of which 30 members - including its leader José Daniel Ferrer - said Monday they had been on hunger strike for 17 days in Santiago de Cuba (East) to protest against the blocking by the police of their distribution of food and medicine to the poor.
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In the afternoon, Ferrer announced the arrest of his wife, Nelva Ismarays Ortega, and 16-year-old daughter, Fatima Victoria Ferrer, who were to help a woman also on hunger strike.
"They were stopped by a patrol car (...), they took my wife and my daughter to a police station in Santiago de Cuba,"
he told AFP.
This new episode of social protest, against the backdrop of the economic crisis and spurred on by the Internet, comes two weeks before the Congress of the Communist Party of Cuba, which will mark the retirement of Raul Castro.
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