Rafto Human Rights Prize awarded to imprisoned Cuban 'artivist' Otero Alcantara | EUROtoday

The Rafto Human Rights Prize was awarded on Thursday, September 19, to Cuban artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcantara, at the moment in jail in his nation, “for his fearless opposition to authoritarianism through art”.

“Otero Alcantara is spearheading a new generation of independent Cuban voices using creative forms of resistance to challenge the authoritarian regime.”argued the Rafto Foundation, based mostly in Bergen, western Norway. “Like many artists before him, his art and civic engagement push the boundaries of freedom of expression in the face of censorship and repression.”she added.

Artisviste – a contraction of the phrases “artist” and “activist” – self-taught 36-year-old Luis Manuel Otero Alcantara, already arrested a number of occasions up to now, has been detained in Cuba since July 11, 2021. That day, the visible artist was arrested as he left his house in Havana to hitch the anti-government protests that introduced collectively 1000’s of Cubans to demand extra freedoms and higher residing situations.

Considered as a “prisoner of conscience” by Amnesty International, he was then sentenced in 2022 to 5 years in jail for insulting the symbols of the homeland, contempt, and disturbing public order.

For the Cuban communist regime, he’s not an artist, however an agent within the service of the United States, which is accused of getting orchestrated the demonstrations to destabilize the nation.

“This award made him happy”

“Let's hope that this will give an impetus for the attention to be turned back to Cuban political prisoners and for the international community to firmly oppose the Cuban dictatorship.”is written in a submit on the X account named Luis M. Alcantara, managed by his inventive brokers, Yanelys Nuñez, a political refugee in Spain, and Claudia Genlui.

The latter, who can be the artist's associate and now not lives in Cuba, informed Agence France-Presse that Luis Manuel Otero Alcantara had “expressed how much this award meant to him[vait] made happy ». This recognition “is a glimmer of hope within the midst of all of the ache, all of the darkness that Luis Manuel goes via”she added.

Up to 1,000 political prisoners in Cuba

According to official figures, some 500 Cubans have been sentenced to terms of up to twenty-five years in prison for their participation in these historic protests of July 11 and 12, 2021.

Several human rights organizations and the United States embassy count up to 1,000 political prisoners on the island.

Established in 1987, the Rafto Foundation and its $20,000 prize (about 18,000 euros) are named after Norwegian historian and human rights activist Thorolf Rafto, who died a year earlier.

Among the former winners, four (the Burmese Aung San Suu Kyi, the Timorese José Ramos-Horta, the South Korean Kim Dae-Jung and Iranian Shirin Ebadi) then won the Nobel Peace Prize, which will be announced on October 11 in Oslo.