Who is Luis Manuel?
Luis Manuel Otero Alcantara
“I am interested in working with the gap that is created within different contexts, feeling the limits between reality and fiction. I try to use everyday gestures by altering them and thus generate a questioning of it.”
Art throughout its history has been interested in social, political and cultural issues and because of this reason artists have often been in serious trouble with cultural institutions or with their own country's governments. Art by nature is uncomfortable, while at the same time it has an extraordinary power to mobilize people towards an idea.
For this reason, the concerns of the artist and human rights activist, Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, are not an isolated case. His social work seeks to bring to light those issues that may affect our country.
Luis Manuel was born in the marginal neighborhood of Cerro in Havana, Cuba, on December 2, 1987. His parents, both deceased, were working class. Luis Manuel dedicated himself in his early youth to practicing athletics professionally. He also graduated as a Technician in Civil Construction.
Luis Manuel since 2011, when he abandoned sports and turned to the world of art, participated in workshops at the Higher Institute of Art in Havana. Among them is a Video Art Workshop given by the artists Celia and Junior (2012), and a 'Net Art' Workshop (2012). It also approached the Conduct Chair of the artist Tania Bruguera, a class that has been decisive for a whole new generation of visual artists, of which Luis Manuel takes part.
From 2017 to 2018 Luis Manuel was also part of the cycle of workshops at the Hannah Arendt Artivism Institute, also promoted by Tania Bruguera.
He has been a resident artist in programs such as the Tallera, located in Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico (August, 2019); as well as in the Residence of the Laboratoire nomade ANAHATA, France (July 12th-25th, 2019). He held another creative residency at Metal at Chalkwell Hall Southend on Sea, UK (October 15th-26th, 2018).
His work has been exhibited in group shows such as The Mother of All Arts at the Wifredo Lam Contemporary Art Center, Havana, and We Don't Know How to Return Alone at El Ranchito-Matadero at Madrid, Spain, the latter as part of the El Ranchito-AECID-Artista X Artista Residency program. Other group projects have been developed in Art Biennials such as Asunción, Curitiba and Havana.
Luis Manuel is the general coordinator of the San Isidro Movement, a collective made up of artists, producers and activists that was born in the heat of the “Cuban artists against Decree 349” campaign; a decree that criminalizes cultural production on the island. The Campaign carried out in 2018 promoted the repeal of the decree through legal claims, artistic actions and unauthorized peaceful demonstrations.
Among the activities carried out during the campaign against Decree 349 are the presentation of formal complaints to the Attorney General's Office, the Ministry of Culture and other institutions; the realization of concerts in independent spaces (“Without Permission of the 349”), The elaboration of pictures for social media (those of Amaury Pacheco and Nonardo Perea stand out), the launch of Film Festivals (“Celuloide Quemao”), public debates, poetry recitals, signing of manifestos (“San Isidro manifesto”), symbolic pilgrimages, and collaboration in sporting events (“Cuban visual artists dedicate themselves to soccer”).
Currently, the Movement has 18 members and has a transnational character due to the forced exile of several of them, however it continues to work to create emancipatory spaces in the nation, seeking the democratization of Cuban politics and society, and working towards the healing of society and its spaces for interrelations.
Luis Manuel is also the co-author, together with the art historian Yanelys Nuñez, of the Museum of Dissidence in Cuba (MDC), a dynamic online platform with reference files, cultural gallery, blog, etc. but that is also presented in real places offering spaces for dialogue and artistic creation. The Museum recontextualizes the concept of 'dissidence' and seeks to empower dissidents in their work as agents of social change. The MDC had its premiere during the El Ranchito-AECID-Artista X Artista Residency Program (March 1st - April 15th, 2016) Madrid.
On the other hand, Luis is also the main coordinator of the #00Biennial of Havana, an independent event that used artists' studios, domestic and public spaces, and social media as a platform for exhibition and inclusive dialogue. The idea of the #00Biennial arose from the erroneous decision of the Ministry of Culture to postpone the 13th Havana Biennial, scheduled to take place in 2018. This independent event, whose first edition took place in May, 2018, held more than 170 Cuban and foreign artists and directly challenged Cuban institutions.
Luis Manuel's work as an artist and human rights activist has stablesh him as an opinion leader, and one of the most recognized public figures on the island. His public interventions such as "Where is Mella?" (2017), one in which he wondered where the sculpture of this young communist leader was once located inside the Manzana de Gómez building and disappeared after it became the first 5-star plus hotel in Cuba. “Drapeau or 24 hours of the month of August with the flag as a second skin” (2020) or “Children were born to be happy, not to die in building collapses” (2020) questioned the lack of economic transparency of the Cuban State and the consequences of the institutional crisis in the most humble population of the country, as well as the use of national symbols by the regime to encourage a harmful nationalism.
"Drapeau" not only generated a massive challenge on social networks, entitled #LaBanderaEsDeTodos, where Cubans appropriated their national flag in the way they wanted, but also placed a question in the midst of a national debate: Who are the owners of the national symbols: the regime or the people?
Luis was one of the "Acuartelados de San Isidro", a spontaneous civic event generated by the unjust arrest of the artist and opponent Denis Solís. For a week (in November, 2020) 14 people besieged by the political police, began a hunger and thirst strike calling for the release of young Denis. The peaceful protest inside Luis Manuel's house ended with a violent eviction by the Cuban police.
Although the defamation in the official press led to profound misinformation among the public about what was happening inside San Isidro in Old Havana, in those days people were aware of the peaceful protest. The hunger and thirst strike carried out by them, as well as the heterogeneity of those gathered there, represented a good rehearsal for the dream Cuba (plural, democratic, brave) and the Cuban people felt it. Demonstrations in Madrid, Miami, Berlin, Rome were held as well as requests for support from the European Community were demanded as some of the expressions of help from the Cuban diaspora.
In April 2021, Luis Manuel led a second hunger and thirst strike alone, this time seeking the end of the state of siege in which he was found and the return of some of his works of art that were stolen by the Cuban regime. This happened in the midst of an arbitrary arrest of Luis Manuel himself. He was on strike from April 25th to May 2nd, the date on which he was forcibly removed from his home and forced into a hospital. The hospital prison lasted for a whole month, during that time he was kept isolated in a room, under continuous surveillance, and a light was on the whole time as a form of turture.
On July 11th, 2021, Luis Manuel was arrested when he tried to participate in the peaceful demonstrations that took place that day nationwide. Before leaving his house, he made a call through his social media seeking unity and asking for an end to the repression in Cuba. Since that date, Luis has been in prison, charged with the alleged crimes of outrage against national symbols, assault, resisting arrest, and contempt of law that are included in the file 24th of 2021.
While in prison, Luis made the work “Letter of Resignation”, with the mediation of the curator Claudia Genlui. Through this gesture, Luis summoned Cubans to imagine the letter of resignation that the current president of Cuba, Miguel Díaz Canel, would write.
While in prison he has also carried out two hunger strikes, one from September 27th to October 12ve, 2021, and another from January 18th to date. His only demand was his immediate release.
From 2016 to date, and due to his work as an activist, Luis Manuel has suffered around 60 arbitrary arrests, defamation in the national press, violation of his privacy, cut off of his communications including telephone service, intervention of his calls, threats to his family and friends, illegal searches of his home, assaults by the police, seizure of campaign materials at the airport. He has been accused of being a terrorist in the official press just because he defends freedom of expression, and cultural and human rights. He has been despised by official artists such as Ernesto Rancaño for the simple fact of trying to live and work in Cuba (remember the post by the aforementioned artist: "I prefer a Cuba without Alcántara").
For his work, he has been selected as one of the 100 most influential people of 2021 by Time magazine, in the Icon category. In addition, the Victims of Communism Commemorative Foundation, known worldwide as Victims of Communism (VOC), presented in 2021 the "Annual Human Rights Dissident Award" to the San Isidro Movement (MSI) for its activism in Cuba. In addition, the British magazine Art Review included the MSI in its ranking of the most influential people and groups in the art world in 2021. Luis received the Oxi Award for Courage 2021 awarded by the Oxi Day Foundation, Washington DC, United States.
Critical comments on his work can be found in Le Monde, El País, El Correo de Andalucía, New York Times, Artishock magazine, Hyperallergic, Noticias de Artecubano, Havana Times, Cubanet, Art on Cuba, PUBLIC Magazine, Revolución y Cultura, Oncuba Magazine, Vie des arts, etc.
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Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara is a Cuban visual artist who has stood out for his performances of a critical nature in the Cuban public space. The political implications of his work and his actions as part of the San Isidro Movement have made him one of the most important activists in Cuba, and as a consequence he has been the target of several arrests.
List of arrests of Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara between 2017 – 2022 (selection)
Arrest #1
November 6th, 2017 After an illegal search of the house where he had called a press conference regarding the independent event # 00Biennial. That day he was transferred to the police station, located in the intersection of Cuba and Chacón streets, Old Havana, he was charged with reception and released after 3 days in jail, on bail.
→ https://www.14ymedio.com/cuba/Arrestado-Habana-Manuel-Otero-Alcantara_0_2331966795.html
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Arrest #2
November 22th, 2017 Luis Manuel and his partner at the time Yanelys Nuñez, were spectacularly detained in the public space, in Vedado, when they were traveling in a collective taxi after having filed a complaint with the Military Prosecutor for the illigal registration to Luis's home.
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Arrest #3
December 14th, 2017 Otero Alcántara left that Thursday from Monte y Ángeles in Old Havana with a stone chained to his ankle, crawling and distributing to those who were in his way a prayer to San Lázaro in which he demanded freedom of expression and the release of political prisoners. The activist's intention was to arrive on December 17th to the Rincón de San Lázaro, about 30 kilometers from Havana and where thousands of Cubans arrive every year to keep promises and ask the popular "saint of the poor" for miracles of healing.Luis Manuel Otero was arrested that Thursday night along with his friend, at the intersection of Belascoaín and Carlos III streets.
→ https://www.14ymedio.com/cuba/Detenido-Manuel-Otero-Alcantara-Aguilera_0_2346365346.html—————-
Arrest #4
December 21st, 2017 When the Endless Poetry Festival was being held, which has been organized independently for more than 20 years, the artist Amaury Pacheco, Luis Manuel and other artists were violently arrested for trying to attend a theater performance that was carried out at the house of the painter Luis Trápaga. Luis rebuked the security agents to seek information on the whereabouts of the artists Iris Ruiz and Lía Villares, who had been arrested for no reason that same day.
→https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81IfcN0Wx0I—————-
Arrest #5
July 21st, 2018 Luis was arrested after a peaceful protest in front of the steps of the National Capitol against Decree 349. He was first at the Dragones station and then transferred along with Amaury Pacheco and Soandri del Río to the Vivac prison. They were there for three days.
→https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cw85Ds2onuk&feature=youtu.be—————-
Arrest #6
August 11th, 2018 He was arrested at noon along with his partner, Yanelys Nuñez, for calling a concert against Decree 349, at his home in San Isidro, Havana. He was detained for more than ten hours at the Zapata y C station, in Vedado.
→https://www.facebook.com/DemocratasCristianosCuba/videos/t.100003618831751/488141038263697/?type=2&video_source=user_video_tab—————-
Arrest #7
November 22th, 2018 Arrested for several hours for calling a collective meditation for the health of Cuban art and culture. The meditation was going to take place in the park of G street and 23, in Vedado.
→http://www.diariodecuba.com/derechos-humanos/1542997896_43175.html—————-
Arrest #8
December 3-5th, 2018. One of the most critical moments of the campaign against Decree 349 was when the San Isidro Movement called for a day of peaceful sit-ins in front of the Ministry of Culture, given the silence of the national institutions about our demands. Luis Manuel was detained first at La Oncena, a station located in San Miguel del Padrón, and then at the Prison Center called Vivac.
→https://youtu.be/H2dRykzz7Gg—————-
Arrest #9
April 11th, 2019 . 96 hours stopped when he performed "Se Usa".
→https://www.14ymedio.com/nacional/Arte-Cuba-Bienal-Otero-represion_0_2637936189.html—————-
Arrest #10
June 2019. When he carried out the collective action ¿That the homeland contemplates you proudly?
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Arrest #11
August 19th, 2019 He was arrested while performing “Drapeau” public intervention. This action criticized the new law of patriotic symbols imposed by the Castro regime.
Luis's post upon being released.
“They arrested me for the mere fact of walking along the Havana boardwalk enjoying the carnivals. State Security? I'm not sure! It was an officer with major charges who did not conceive that a common young Cuban would walk with his Cuban flag. When arriving at an improvised station 2 blocks away, nobody knew the crime, a lieutenant colonel asked if I had shouted and the response of the lieutenant who brought me in the patrol was: "He was calm, he just walked with his flag", leaving everyone speechless. They released me after 30 minutes. This shows how traumatized the mind of a Cuban can be, or of a Cuban who is even afraid of a young man who walks with the flag as his second skin.”
#LaBanderaEsDeTodos #estamosconectados #SomosUno”
→https://www.facebook.com/luismanuel.oteroalcantara/posts/1168853863301131—————-
Arrest #12
September 12, 2019. Violent arrest when leaving an art gallery called Gorría in Old Havana.
MSI statement on this arrest:
“San Isidro Movement has just appeared at the National Police Office, gathering information, we obtained the sinister news that they intend to prosecute Luis Manuel Otero under the new Law of Patriotic Symbols, with a complaint #58606 of September 13th, that is, a day after his kidnapping. There is still no news of his whereabouts, they told us to go to a station in Old Havana, Cuba and Chacón, to speak with Major Daldez, who coincidentally is the same officer who handled the case of Maykel Castillo (Maykel obsorbo). According to the new law, an outrage against national symbols entails, first a legal warning, and then a fine of 200 quotas. We are heading to the Cuba and Chacón station!!”
→https://www.radiotelevisionmarti.com/a/m%C3%A1s-de-85-horas-despu%C3%A9s-d%C3%B3nde-encierran-a-luis-manuel-otero-alc%C3%A1ntara-/247778.html
→https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10220476226755511&set=pcb.10220476371839138&type=3&theater—————-
Arrest #13
September 29, 2019. Arrest outside the Yara cinema for talking with other activists about the case of striker Guillermo del Sol.
Moment of the arrest of two activists who accompanied him Iliana Hernandez and Oscar Casanella
→https://www.facebook.com/luismanuel.oteroalcantara/videos/1199553316897852/
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Arrest #14
October 18th, 2019. The objective of this repression was to prevent him from participating in a meeting on the prevention of breast cancer at the Hannah Arendt International Institute of Artivism (INSTAR)
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Arrest #15
October 24th, 2019. He was arrested when he was leaving a poetry recital in Alamar on a public highway.
Video of the arrest at this link:
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Arrest #16
November 11th, 2019 At 9:30 a.m, a State Security officer summoned him to the port avenue to have a conversation. The officer assured him that it would take just a moment. Luis Manuel, in doubt that something might happen to him and fearing that some arbitrary procedure would be applied, asked his partner that if he did not call her at 10:30am, make his disappearance public. Luis was arbitrarily detained for 72 hours.
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Arrest #17
November 15 – November 17, 2019 at 9pm getting off a bus when he was returning from a conversation at the Artista x Artista studio and on his way to a gallery in the Perugorria studio. He was released at 8pm on November 17.
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Arrest #18
November 24, 2019 He was detained at a police station located in La Lisa as reported to his girlfriend, Claudia Genlui, an officer with number 97.
→https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10157795540456602&set=a.103530051601&type=3&theater
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Arrest #19
December 10, 2019 Arrested at 6 in the afternoon when he left the house to see his son who was his birthday. He was forbidden to go out because it was Human Rights Day. He spent 14 hours under arrest at the San Miguel del Padrón police station.
→https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=514276462502783&set=a.114755212454912&type=3&theater—————-
Arrest #20
January 26, 2020 he was arrested in Santa Catalina and Primelles, on public roads, where he was waiting for his girlfriend. Luisma would accompany her to the airport because she had to travel to Colombia for work reasons. Just a few days ago, Luis Manuel had been prohibited from going abroad because he was pending a legal process.
→https://freemuse.org/news/cuba-luis-manuel-otero-alcantara-arbitrary-detained-again-freemuse/
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Arrest #21
February 7, 2020 He was arrested for carrying out a public action where he paid tribute to the 3 girls who died due to negligence of the regime in a landslide. He was detained for 24 hours. They confiscated a construction helmet that he used for his action because, according to the police, it was a provocation. The helmet had written: Children were born to be happy, not to die building collapses.
→https://diariodecuba.com/ human-rights/1581195142_10169.html
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Arrest #22
February 13, 2020 he was arrested at 10 am and released at 3:46 am. He was detained in Zapata y C. He was attended by Lieutenant Colonel Kenia María Rodríguez, who seized for the second time the construction helmet he was wearing and through which he paid tribute to the 3 girls who died due to a negligent landslide that occurred in the poor neighborhood of Jesús María. , in Old Havana, on January 27, 2020.
→https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=559095884687507&set=a.114755212454912&type=3&theater
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Arrest #23
March 1, 2020 Luis Manuel left his house to attend the protest called by the LGBTIQ + community in Vedado against the censorship of a gay kiss on Cuban TV. As he left his house, the police seized him and beat his girlfriend, Claudia Genlui, to prevent her from filming the arrest.He was detained for 13 days in the Valle Grande prison.
→https://diariodecuba.com/human-rights/1583592345_13200.html
—————-Arrest #24
June 11, 2020 He was arrested outside the house of his friend Maykel Obsorbo in Old Havana, at 10:40 pm. Luis Manuel only filmed how Maykel was taken into custody.
The art historian Anamely Ramos was violently attacked at the police station in Cuba and Chacón while trying to find out about Maykel and Luis Manuel.
Anamely had asked permission to enter the duty officer and he had allowed it. But a female officer intercepted her a few steps away and made a skeleton key that threw her to the ground.Luis Manuel was released at 6:30 am the next day with a charge for attacking the police. Maykel Obsorbo was also released on the same terms.
→https://www.facebook.com/claudiagenlui.hidalgo/videos/631299987467096/
—————-Arrest #25
June 24, 2020 he was arrested in Alamar he was taken to 15 Alamar. He was released on June 25 with a fine of 300 pesos.
→https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1946507232146552&set=a.1147168578747092&type=3&theater
—————-Arrest #26
He was arrested when he was on his way to the Yara cinema, in Vedado, where he had called for a march against the murder of the young black man Hansel Hernández. He was taken to the Marianao unit from 10 am to 8 pm.
Arrest #27
September 8, 2020 He was arrested for sitting outside his house with a picture of a sunflower.He was detained for a few hours.
Arrest #28
September 12, 2020 He was taken from his house by force and taken to the Cuba y Chacón police station. That day they were celebrating the two years of the birth of the MSI. However, upon arrival at the station, minutes later the curator and friend Anamelys Ramos arrived to ask about him and she was forcibly removed from the station by the police officer on duty in the folder for the alleged misuse of the mask. Luis claimed for her right to ask about her and for the way she had been treated, and that caused him to be thrown to the ground and beaten to handcuff him. At the end of the night, after having gone through the procedures of getting a certificate for injuries, he was released with a 2,000-peso fine.
Arrest #29
September 29, 2020 Luis Manuel Otero was detained by a patrol in the Picota Station park. He had gone to accompany his neighbors, who were summoned by the SE for having a relationship with him.Direct from Claudia about the detention
→https://www.facebook.com/claudiagenlui.hidalgo/videos/704030743527353/
—————-Arrest 30
October 10, 2020 That day, and according to a Cubalex report, the authorities arrested 21 people. Most of the arrests occurred after 4:20 in the afternoon. In the morning, at least 7 of the detainees reported surveillance operations around their homes. In front of the headquarters of the San Isidro Movement and the Museum of Dissidence, located on Damas and San Isidros streets, and in front of the curator Anamely's house, the authorities organized two repudiation rallies.
Anamely Ramos González, Denis Solis and Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara at 11:00 pm that day were still unaccounted for.
→https://diariodecuba.com/cuba/1602700241_25666.html
—————-Arrest #31
October 14, 2020 Luis was detained by State Security, and was taken to an unknown whereabouts. After being released, they cut off his access to his data connection.
→https://www.facebook.com/ONGcubalex/photos/a.1481619745388008/2730070420542928/?type=3&theater#
—————-Arrest #32
12 of November Patrol 291 was waiting for him outside the house where he was visiting. This was in Playa. For no reason. He was detained for several hours. Released at 8:35 p.m.
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Arrest #33
November 13, 2020 On November 9, the singer Denis Solís was arrested, and Luis Manuel went to demand his release daily at the Cuba y Chacón station in Old Havana.
→https://diariodecuba.com/human-rights/1605353094_26472.html
—————-Arrest #34
November 14, 2020 Arrested outside the Cuba y Chacón station for demanding the release of Denis Solis.
→https://diariodecuba.com/human-rights/1605350006_26471.html
—————-Arrest #35
November 15, 2020 he was arrested on the way to the police station in Cuba and Chacón during the campaign for the release of Denis Solís.
→https://www.facebook.com/Mv.SanIsidro/posts/385952702819054
—————-Arrest #36
January 27, 2021 He was detained for 4 hours in a patrol car at the Regla police station in Havana.
—————-Arrest #37
January 29, 2021 When he left his house for the capitol to protest. He was released a few hours later at 8 am. They first took him to the Regla station and left him sitting in a patrol car and then took him to the San Miguel del Padrón station where he spent the night.
Then they took him to his house.
→https://www.cubanet.org/noticias/detenido-luis-manuel-otero-donde-intentaba-llegar-al-capitolio/
—————-Arrest #38
April 4, 2021 Otero Alcántara was buying some children's books when the patrol came and took him into custody. That day a birthday was going to be celebrated in his house for the children of the neighborhoodof San Isidro. The arrest occurs a day after the official journalist Humberto López accused him of planning to 'manipulate' children with an activity.
→https://diariodecuba.com/cuba/1617492644_30100.html
—————-Arrest #39
April 16, 2021 Luis Manuel's house is raided while he was doing a performance with a vile club, built by himself. They take him prisoner along with the artist Africa Reina. They steal the vile club that he had at home and his works.
Arrest #40
April 17, 2021 Luis leaves his house with the aim of reaching the capitol to demand his works stolen by the Cuban regime. He is arrested a few meters from his house.
—————-Arrest #41
April 18, 2021 Luis was arrested at 4 in the afternoon when he wanted to leave his house. He has been besieged by State Security for more than 13 days.
Arrest #42
April 19 – April 24, 2021 Every day Luis Manuel takes to the streets to claim his works. He is arrested every time. He doesn't have internet access. He does not allow his friends to enter the house.
He remains besieged. On April 25 he declared a hunger and thirst strike.
Arrest #43
May 2, 2021 He is forcibly removed from his house in San Isidro while on a hunger and thirst strike. Luis Manuel is released on May 31, after 29 days in prison and incommunicado at the Calixto García hospital in Havana, with the complicity of the health personnel of that public institution.
Arrest #44
June 6, 2021 Iliana Hernández has been imprisoned in her house for 59 days. She is illegally. There is no precautionary measure, nor a prosecutor's order that explains it. Iliana does not even have a complaint or an open criminal proceeding. This afternoon Luis Manuel and Carolina Barrero tried to get to Cojímar to visit her, but they were stopped at the corner of the activist's house. They were put in a patrol car and taken to the Cojímar Unit.
→https://www.facebook.com/octavia.caseres.1/posts/3197220929816047
—————-Arrest #45
June 21, 2021 At 1:30 in the afternoon Luis was kidnapped by the political police when he was on his way to a meeting of activists with representatives of the European Union headquarters in Cuba.Direct on Facebook from Luis
→https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?v=235960431374595
—————-Arrest #46
June 30, 2021 Luis was arrested while walking down the street in Cerro and talking on the phone. He was only detained for a few hours together with his uncle Enix Berrio.
→https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=266427061948733&set=pb.100057443238152.-2207520000.
—————-Arrest #47
July 11, 2021 Luis tried to join the #11j protests in Havana, but he was arrested before he could reach the Malecón.
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Tallera International Residency Program, located in Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico (August, 2019)
Resist to exist Delphine Fabbri Lawson and Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara. Residence of the Laboratoire nomade ANAHATA (July 12-25th, 2019) France.
Metal at Chalkwell Hall. Creation Residence. (October 15-26th, 2018) Southend on Sea, UK.
Anahata [Project] Itinerant research and creation residence in France and Cambodia of the Cuban artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara in October and November 2016 / curator Delphine Fabbri Lawson
Residency Program El Ranchito-AECID-Artist X Artist. Guest countries Cuba, Finland, Japan (March 1st - April 15th, 2016). Madrid, Spain.
Incubator (January-June 2015), residence that was part of La Primavera del amor, a platform for intercultural artistic development and production. Curated by Catherine Sicot and organized by Elegoa Cultural Produtions, LASA (Artistic Laboratory of San Agustín), with the support of the Canadian Fund for Local Initiatives, San Agustín, Havana, Cuba
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Selected in 2022 for the Prince Claus Impact Awards. Every two years the Impact Awards honor six pioneering individuals who engage their own communities with creative work that is relevant, time-sensitive and inspiring.
Selected by Time Magazine as one of the 100 most influential people of 2021, in the icon section.
The British magazine Art Review included the San Isidro Movement (MSI), of which Luis is general coordinator, in its ranking of the most influential people and groups in the art world in 2021.
Oxi Award for Courage 2021 by the Oxi Day Foundation, Washington DC, United States.
Finalist for the CINTAS Foundation Scholarship, in the category of visual arts. Miami, United States. 2021
Tribute to the San Isidro Movement. World Movement for Democracy. July 2021.
Annual Dissident Award for Human Rights to the San Isidro Movement. Victims of Communism (VOC) Memorial Foundation, 2021
Index on Censorship Freedom of Expression Awards. Category: art, 2018
First mention in the Vl Biennial of the ACAA, 2010
Grand Prize at the José Fowler exhibition, 2009
III Prize at the IV Biennial of Carving of the ACAA, 2006
III Prize at the Festival of Culture in the Arena, 2006
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General Coordinator of the independent event #00Biennial of Havana.
Such a gesture was organized by a group of national and international artists and curators and was born as a reaction to the mistaken decision of the Cuban Ministry of Culture to postpone the 13th Havana Biennial scheduled for 2018.
The #00Biennial appropriated social media, public spaces and artists' studios as exhibition platforms. It was held from May 5th to 15th, 2018 with the participation of more than 170 Cuban and foreign artists.
Cuba's First Independent Art Biennial Opens in Havana on May 5th, 2018.
Villasmil, Alejandra. #00 HAVANA BIENNIAL. Alternative, independent, reactionary.
Biedarieva, Svlitana. The Importance of Havana's First Alternative Biennial for the Cuban Art Scene.
Slim, Aldeide. #00Havana Biennial: Aldeide Delgado in conversation with Yanelys Núñez and Luis Manuel Otero.
Ballesteros, Pamela. Interview. Luis Manuel Otero: the gesture of art in resistance.
#00Havana Biennial -
Colección de Jorge Pérez en Espacio 23, 2022.
Colección de arte cubano de la Universidad e Vanderbilt, 2022