Hero: Cuban activist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara given 2024 Rafto Prize for human rights

Cuban artist and activist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara was honored this Thursday in Norway with the Rafto Prize for human rights “for his brave opposition to authoritarianism through art.”

The institution's ruling highlights that 36-year old Otero Alcántara, currently being held in prison, “has been arrested countless times for his activism” and that his works are “flatly critical of the restrictions on freedom of expression” that Cuba suffers.

Otero Alcántara leads the San Isidro Movement on the island, founded in 2018 and which brings together artists, musicians, journalists and academics “who promote freedom of expression” and oppose the so-called Decree 349, which requires creators to be registered at the Ministry of Culture, from which they must ask permission to act and exhibit their work.

Co-founder of the so-called Museum of Dissidence, Otero Alcántara also participated in the music video of the grammy winninghip-hop song Patria y Vida, which played an important role after the Caribbean nation’s July 11, 2021 anti-regime protests.

The Rafto prize 2024 is awarded to Cuban artist and human rights defender Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, for his fearless opposition to authoritarianism through art. Read the complete Award Statement here. https://t.co/MucQWWPwW4

Photo: María Matienzo#FreeLuisMa #Patriayvida pic.twitter.com/W774NfXyDe

— Rafto Foundation (@RaftoFoundation) September 19, 2024

“Since 2016, he has been the subject of interrogations, political persecution and has been arrested countless times. In addition, his works of art have been confiscated and destroyed by state security agents,” Rafto’s statement said.

Otero Alcántara was sentenced in 2022 for “contempt, public disorder and outrage to national symbols” and is currently serving a five-year sentence in the Guanajay maximum security prison.

“The Rafto 2024 award aims to highlight the importance of the work of Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara and other artists in challenging power structures and defending democracy and human rights in Cuba and around the world,” highlights the statement, which urges the Cuban regime to release the activist, all “political prisoners” and to repeal Decree 349.

The Rafto Foundation has awarded awards annually since 1987 to defenders of human rights and democracy, among whom are four people who later received the Nobel Peace Prize: the Burmese Aung San Suu Kyi, the Timorese José Ramos-Horta, the South Korean Kim Dae-jung and the Iranian Shirin Ebadi.

The prize, worth $20,000, is named after Professor Thorolf Rafto, who dedicated his life to defending democracy and human rights.