Two Cuban dissident artists, Luis Manuel Otero Alcantara, 34, and Maykel Osorbo, 39, have been sentenced to five and seven years in prison respectively, the public prosecutor's office announced on Friday, prompting outraged reactions.
The trial of the two artists was held at the end of May in the Cuban capital and seven years in prison were required against Luis Manuel Otero Alcantara and 10 years against Maykel Osorbo, whose real name is Maikel Castillo Pérez.
"The United States is outraged by the unjust sentences"
of the two artists, State Department spokesman Ned Price said on Twitter, calling for their release and that of
"all those detained simply for exercising their rights to freedom of expression
.
Washington, the EU and several human rights NGOs had already been calling for their release for several months.
They were declared prisoners of conscience by Amnesty International which, on Thursday on Twitter,
“firmly rejected the sentences handed down”
, regretting “
a sad day for freedom of expression in Cuba”
.
"This decision is a joke that openly violates freedom of expression and association
," tweeted Juan Pappier, researcher emeritus for the Americas division of the NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW).
A performance deemed “offensive”
Performing artist, Luis Manuel Otero Alcantara was sentenced by a court in Havana
“as the perpetrator of the offenses of insulting symbols of the homeland, contempt and disturbance of public order”
.
He had been arrested on July 11, 2021 as thousands of Cubans demonstrated in the streets of the island to cries of
“We are hungry”
and
“Freedom”
.
The crimes he was charged with all predated July 11.
The 30-year-old is one of the leaders of the collective of protesting artists San Isidro, launched in 2018, which pleads for more freedom of expression on the communist island.
He had started a hunger strike after the seizure and deterioration by the police of his works, and had been hospitalized on May 2, 2021 to disappear for 29 days, without being able to give news to his relatives.
When he reappeared, he said he had spent
"a month in the hands of the beast"
and promised to
"keep up the fight"
.
Unknown to the general public a year earlier, he is for the authorities a
"mercenary"
paid by Washington to make political agitation.
Hailed as one of the personalities of 2021 by the American magazine
Time
, the one who defines himself as
an “artivist”
– a contraction of artist and activist – has multiplied provocative performances.
He was notably prosecuted for insulting the symbols of the fatherland after carrying the Cuban flag on his shoulders for a month in 2019.
The judges concluded that he had
"offended the national flag"
, posting photos on social media where he is
"used in denigrating acts accompanied by notoriously offensive and disrespectful expressions"
.
The judges did not appreciate that the artist had
"repeatedly used (the Cuban flag) as a towel by lying on it on the sand"
, and especially wrapped himself in it before sitting on the toilet.
His artistic act has, according to the judges, weakened
"the feelings of nationality and pride that the Cuban people have for our national flag"
.
Patria emptied
a diverted motto there
Maykel Osorbo, also leader of the San Isidro movement, was sentenced for disturbing public order, contempt of justice and assault.
Arrested on May 18, 2021, he is the co-author of the song
Patria y vida
(
Fatherland and life
), which has become a symbol of anti-government protests in Cuba and crowned with a Grammy Latino.
This title, composed with four other rappers living in the United States, takes the opposite view of the emblematic
Patria o muerte
(
The fatherland or death)
, slogan of the socialist revolution.
The music video has been viewed over 11 million times on YouTube.
"It's over"
,
"the people are tired"
proclaims the piece released in February 2021, since censored.
The two artists were also sentenced for causing
“a gathering of people who occupied the public highway and insulted the authorities”
in April 2021. That afternoon, dozens of residents of San Isidro sang with them
Patria there vida
.
The image of Maykel Osorbo, raising her fist with a handcuff tied after escaping an attempted arrest with the help of locals, had gone viral on the island.
A total of 488 people have been sentenced, some up to 25 years in prison, for their participation in the protests on July 11 and 12, 2021, the largest since 1959.