To promote a peaceful transition to a Cuba that respects human rights
and political and economic freedoms
The Art of Repression in Cuba Clashes with the Art of Dissent. The hunger and thirst strike is not a performance, but an act of nonviolent resistance.
Source: Luis Manuel Otero Alcantara's Facebook page
On April 16, 2021 over Facebook, Luis Manuel Otero Alcantara, one of the leaders of the San Isidro Movement announced a performance to dramatize the vulnerability of dissidents on the island. The headquarters of the movement is located at Luis Manuel's home.The San Isidro Movement, a dissident movement made up of artists that came into existence in 2018 to protest Decree 349, a new law that further tightened the dictatorship's grip over the arts in Cuba. headquarters in Old Havana. Their mission is to campaign against Decree 349 and defend the freedom of expression of artists. Luis Manuel in the above mentioned Facebook explained the dramatic protest he was undertaking.
"From today I will be for 8 h daily for 5 days, sitting in a Garrote, days when I remain besieged by the DSE (State Security), I call on the authorities to turn this lathe and execute me publicly. Today Cuban activists and opponents live more vulnerable than ever, every day we are more exposed, and that vulnerability is coming from a dictatorship that is 62 years old. That 62-year-old dictatorship that copies the most repressive models of many dictatorships and security and repression organs like Russia, and those of the world.
This work is the result of a series of videos where we denounce the arbitrary way in which activists and opponents in Cuba are accused. From Law 88 that can sentence you to up to 20 years in jail, coming with the black spring, to the charge of contempt, a crime for which Denis Solis is now in prison, and Luis Robles is also in prison for expressing himself .. The law against insulting patriotic symbols is another one of those laws that criminalize free speech, crimes made up by State security. This performance is based on the garrote technique of killing activists or criminals in dictatorships like Franco's and in the Spanish Colonies. It is a wake-up call to what this dictatorship is capable of doing. Imagine if Luis Robles was handed down a six years prison sentence for expressing himself with a sign, what can happen to an activist who actually succeeds in having millions of followers for Cuban Freedom?"
The political police arrived that same day and took him away then returned to seize and steal or destroy his artwork located there at his home and studio. It was captured on video by a neighbor. The Cuban American artist Coco Fusco obtained a copy of the video and edited it with some questions added for those still sympathetic with the Castro dictatorship.
Repression against artists in Cuba stretches back 60 years to the early months of the Revolution and it was clearly explained by the late Cuban dictator. On June 30, 1961 Fidel Castro gave his speech to [Cuba's] intellectuals where he summed up the limits of artistic expression: 'Within the revolution, everything; outside of it, nothing,' he told intellectuals and artists. Nearly a decade later on April 27, 1971 the case of Heberto Padilla underscored the limits of artistic expression. [This episode was explored in yesterday's CubaBrief.] Index on Censorship described the aftermath of Padilla's interrogation and self-criticism stating, "whatever the reason for his confession, it served as a harbinger of what was to follow: a period known as the Grey Five Years in which dozens of Cuban artists and writers were banished from public life." This was how intellectuals and artists would be dealt with who strayed out of the prescribed limits imposed by the Castro regime.
The war on artistic freedom is not unique to the Castro regime, or a mistake, but a feature of communist and fascist systems. Totalitarians have had a hostile relationship with the arts, and with artists seeking to control them. In the Soviet Union modern art was declared subversive by Josef Stalin, and socialist realism with an optimistic tone the politically correct style. Artists destroyed or hid their work that did not accord with the new aesthetic. In Nazi Germany, modern art was declared degenerate and a style that mirrored in appearance their Soviet counterparts, and repression was visited upon artists that did not adhere to the official style.
The 1984 documentary Improper Conduct outlines how Cuban artists that did not conform, or were deemed to be engaged in “extravagant behavior” were sent to work camps or forced into exile by the Castro regime. Cuban poet Heberto Padilla, who went into exile in 1979, is interviewed.
The patterns of repression have continued to the present day. Technology has improved, and new opportunities arise for activists to be able to communicate, but old methods should not be replaced, but complemented. Michael Lima Cuadra, of Democratic Spaces, translated to English and transcribed Luis Manuel Otero Alcantara's statement following his release from his April 16, 2021 arbitrary detention.
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