Cuban dissident artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara cleared to travel to US | Cuba

Prominent Cuban dissident artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, whose whereabouts remain unknown following the end of his prison sentence last week, has been granted permission to travel to the United States, according to his official Facebook page.

Otero Alcántara, designated a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International, was sentenced to five years in prison in 2022 on charges of insulting national symbols, humiliating and disrupting public order.

He was detained in July 2021 as he left his home in Havana to join unprecedented mass protests on the communist island.

On Friday, a post on a Facebook page run by close friends read: “Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara’s application for parole to enter the United States has been approved.”

In this example, “parole” refers to entering and temporarily residing in the United States.

The 38-year-old man was transferred from prison to a state security force facility on July 7, two days before the end of his sentence.

Since then, Cuban authorities have not released any information about his whereabouts.

Cubalex, a Miami-based charity, on Thursday condemned what it saw as an “illegal denial of freedom.”

According to Cubalex, communist authorities wanted to isolate the artist while awaiting permission to deport him to the United States.

Havana accused him of acting on behalf of Washington to destabilize Cuba.

Prisoners Defenders, a human rights organization, said a total of 1,306 political prisoners were documented in Cuba earlier this month.

He added that 40 people were arrested as minors, the highest number ever recorded by the organization, and 16 of them remain in adult prisons and detention centers.

In March, Cuban officials held talks with the US government over the US fuel blockade and frequent power outages.

After the U.S. military kidnapped Venezuelan president and Cuban ally Nicolás Maduro in January, President Donald Trump signed an executive order placing the Caribbean island under a de facto oil blockade.