Both the San Isidro Movement protests for Denis Solis’ freedom that rocked the Cuban regime in 2020 and the Velvet Revolution, which were large-scale demonstrations that brought an end to communism in Czechoslovakia in 1989, started on November 17th, albeit geographically and 31 years apart. Both, however, resulted from each regime’s brutal response to a nonviolent demonstration, which were greeted by increasing waves of nonviolent protest.
Travel writer and photographer Anna Spysz in her 2017 article “Panic! on the Streets of Prague” described how the November 17, 1989 protests, and the repressive response led to a domino effect.
“On the first day of the revolution, a peaceful student demonstration to commemorate International Students’ Day began in Prague and ended with violence on Narodni Street, when riot police blocked off escape routes and severely beat students. That first domino began an avalanche, as almost every day afterwards until the end of December brought more protests with more and more people participating. By November 20 an estimated half-million of peaceful protesters took to the streets, up from the 200,000 of the day before. A general two-hour strike that involved all citizens of Czechoslovakia was held on November 27th (various video clips from these protests and from the Warsaw Pact invasion of 1968 can be seen at the Museum of Communism in Prague). After that, demonstrations were being held almost daily in Prague’s Wenceles Square as well as in Bratislava.”
Thirty one years later, in a poor Havana neighborhood called San Isidro, a group of artists came together in a home and studio in defense of their unjustly imprisoned friend. They were protesting the arrest on November 9th, and summary trial on November 11th of their colleague Denis Solís González who was sentenced to eight months in prison for “contempt” (desacato), for speaking critically of a police officer searching his home. In this July 2022 podcast Denis describes how he resisted, and overcame the Cuban dictatorship’s indoctrination.
Denis served his sentence at Valle Grande, a maximum-security prison just outside Havana, and later went into exile. Below is a 2018 music video by him, while he was still in Cuba, that contains political themes critical of the Cuban dictatorship.
Members of the San Isidro Movement decided to use their art to help their friend Denis in a poetic action they announced over social media on November 17, 2020 that encouraged Cubans wherever they were in the world on that same day at 4:30pm to stop, to listen, to make their empathy possible, in the recognition of oneself in the emotion of another, and through a simple gesture advocate their liberation, and in doing so for their own freedom.
“The San Isidro Movement is calling for a poetic action in Old Havana on November 17 at 4:30 PM to demand the immediate release of Denis Solís González, unjustly imprisoned for expressing his political ideas. It is a gesture that arose in front of the police station on Cuba and Chacón and that we want to maintain as a poetic encouragement while Denis is incarcerated. We will read texts by authors such as Federico García Lorca, Nicanor Parra, Francisco de Quevedo, Dylan Thomas or Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz; and by Cuban authors such as Rafael Alcides, Virgilio Piñera, Lezama Lima, Dulce María Loynaz, Grupo Diáspora(s), Omar Pérez, and many others. Denis Solís is serving an 8-month prison sentence in the Valle Grande detention center. Havana residents are invited to join us at the headquarters of the San Isidro Movement, located at Damas 955 between San Isidro and Avenida del Puerto. Here we will be for several days, a group of artists and friends sharing our favorite works, singing, acting and imagining a more complete Cuba for everyone. We want all who understands that, by demanding Denis’s liberation, we are also demanding our own liberation, to join in the poetic action. We also ask Cubans, wherever they are, to join in reading. Send us your videos, post them on your social networks with the hashtag #FreeDenis, here or there, from Brussels or Soriano, because Cuba is in us, and it is a “curve of sighs and mud.” #notopoliceviolence #FreeDenis #aCubayChacónforDenis”
Activist and reporter for CiberCuba Iliana Hernández, one of the strikers, recalls what happened next in her “Chronicles of the barracks in San Isidro” in which she mentions artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara and musician Maykel “Osorbo” Castillo Pérez.
“The idea was to read poems at the MSI headquarters; go to Denis Solís’s house and continue the reading there with his family; do the same at the corner where he was detained and beaten; and finish the pilgrimage reading poems at the Cuba and Chacón station. But conditions changed. The repressors were waiting for us to come out so they could attack us, arrest us and separate us as they always do. Seeing that going out was dangerous, we decided to carry out the activity inside the house, but not before making fun of the situation created by the regime. Luis Manuel and Maykel went outside and started dancing in front of the house. Immediately, the neighbors of San Isidro gathered around the corner to see what was happening, they felt identified with what the boys were doing. Humberto Mena also joined in, and there they were, the three of them dancing, ridiculing the gang of criminals who surrounded the area as if we were terrorists. The people of San Isidro laughed, enjoyed themselves and felt part of the performance, even I went out and took my steps, although I was afraid that some kind of chase would form and we wouldn’t have time to get to the door.”
The artists and activists decided for reasons of caution to hold their event at the San Isidro Movement (MSI ) headquarters, and they called on Cubans to join them there to take part in the action. The Cuban dictatorship responded by setting up a cordon, and did not allow persons to enter. On November 18, 2020 when it became clear that officials would not allow anyone to deliver them food, and in the early morning hours of that day had used a chemical agent to poison their water supply, nine of them decided to go on hunger strike, and four of them took the additional step to also start a thirst strike. This was done to conserve food and water for those among them in a more vulnerable situation.
This began a series of actions of escalating violence by the dictatorship, and disciplined nonviolence by the San Isidro Movement that contributed to mass protests in 2020 in Havana, and in 2021 across the island, and the liberation anthem: Patria y Vida. Both Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara and Maykel “Osorbo” Castillo Pérez are today prisoners of conscience in Cuba, but they continue their nonviolent struggle behind bars, and are still making an international impact. On the fourth anniversary of the decision to remain in protest in the San Isidro headquarters in Havana, Maykel “Osorbo” Castillo Pérez sent this message from prison.
Dear and esteemed friends:
First of all, I do not consider myself even remotely a superman, only a very humble human being, capable of understanding that we are only a small breath of life in the hands of a time that will never stop to wait for us. In the face of this everything that surrounds us every minute, we are only an ephemeral part of a nothing.
Therefore, today I let you know that you, my friends, brothers and followers, are the everything that filled the void of the nothingness that was forgotten. When I met you, I wanted you with my rebellion and you followed me, that is, each one of you are, and always will be, the reason for the everything that came to fill my nothingness.
Do not doubt for a moment that each one of you is greater and much more important than me.
Without more,
Maykel Osorbo
Days earlier, Luis Manuel in a phone call from prison made a call to action: “To the artists, theorists, collectors and art lovers who will visit the 2024 biennial, I invite you to see my work and become part of it. It’s called Proof of Life. One special person will be chosen to visit me in prison and spend one or two hours with me in conversation about art and other things. The biennial began as an opportunity for artists from the periphery, and those that have been displaced. Since I can’t go to the event, why not bring [the biennial] to the artist?”
Photo by Erik Jennische
On November 9, 2024 at the Rafto Conference in Bergen, Norway the case of 2024 Rafto Prize winner Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara was highlighted, and followed on November 10th with a torchlight procession in his honor through the streets of this Norwegian town.
Photo by Rafto Foundation
CiberCuba, November 17, 2024
The Resilience of Maykel Osorbo: An Emotional Letter from a Maximum Security Prison in Cuba
The imprisonment of Maykel Osorbo has sparked condemnation and international support.
Photo © Facebook/Maykel Osorbo
On the fourth anniversary of the San Isidro Barracks, Maykel Castillo Pérez, known as Maykel Osorbo, once again raises his voice from a maximum-security prison, where he is serving the sentence imposed on him by the Cuban regime.
From the Kilo 5 and a Half prison in Pinar del Río, the Cuban activist and artist has sent an emotional letter to his friends, comrades in struggle, and supporters, reaffirming his commitment to freedom and justice in Cuba.. The letter, delivered to his family during their monthly visit on November 15, highlights Osorbo’s strength and optimism despite the challenges he faces.
“Dear esteemed friends: First of all, I do not consider myself in the least a superman, just a highly humble human being, capable of understanding that we are merely a fleeting breath of life in the hands of a time that will never stop to wait for us,” he wrote in the letter.
“I remain strong and in good spirits,” he added, making it clear that his spirit remains intact despite the harassment and conditions of isolation. He also announced that he will soon share new songs he has been writing from prison.
The reflection in his text continues when he says that “in the face of all that surrounds us every minute, we are merely a fleeting part of nothing.”
Maykel Osorbo, one of the key figures of the San Isidro Movement and co-author of “Patria y Vida,” has become a symbol of resistance against authoritarianism on the island.
His imprisonment, widely deemed arbitrary, has sparked international condemnation and brought attention to the repression of dissenters in Cuba.
Amnesty International has declared him a prisoner of conscience, and various human rights organizations are demanding his immediate release.
TresorFX, November 14, 2024
Cuban Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara Wins Rafto Prize: A Tribute to Cuba
By Elan Posh
The Story of Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara: A Voice for Cuban Human Rights
In Bergen, Norway, huge red banners have been decorating walls and walls of the city center in recent weeks. In them, a young boy in a black and white image, unknown to most who notice his photo while circulating through the city, makes a gesture that could have been a smile and looks so intently at the camera that it becomes uncomfortable with his inquisitive gaze. It is not just any look, it is the look of someone silenced who has a lot to say. This is Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, a 36-year-old Cuban artist who has been awarded the Rafto Prize for Human Rights. The official ceremony for this award, given each year since 1987 by the foundation of the same name in honor of Professor Thorolf Rafto, took place on Sunday, November 10th. The award highlights human rights defenders, whether individuals or organizations, and focuses the world’s attention on various types of human rights violations.
Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara: A Symbol of Resistance
Unfortunately, Luis Manuel has not been able to collect his award. He is currently imprisoned in Cuba and sentenced to five years in prison. He had been intermittently detained before being arrested when he was about to participate in the massive uprising that took place throughout the country on July 11, 2021, as an act of popular protest against the extreme situation affecting the Cuban people. The following year, he was tried in a summary trial and accused and convicted of offenses such as disrespect for national symbols, contempt, and public disorder. These are the charges that the Cuban regime most often fabricates against those who disagree with the government of the island.
But Otero Alcántara is not just another political prisoner in Cuba. With his provocative art, he has been pointing out the situation, not just precarious, but disastrous, in which Cuba finds itself in all areas. He has shown opposition and criticism openly as rarely, if ever, seen in Cuba in recent decades. As a creator and activist, he co-founded the Museum of Dissidence in Cuba, organized the #00Havana Biennial, the country’s first independently organized biennial, and brought together a group of young intellectuals and artists in 2018 around an artistic and social movement of a political nature, the San Isidro Movement. The Cuban government has turned him into one of its main internal enemies and has treated him as such.
The Rafto Prize and International Attention
His work led the Rafto Foundation to announce on September 19th the decision to award him the prize “for his fight for freedom of expression through art in Cuba,” as expressed by Jostein Hole Kobbeltvedt, executive director of the Rafto Foundation since 2016. The Cuban is among the youngest recipients of this award and the third Latin American to receive it. Prior recipients from the continent include Bishop José Raúl Vera López of Mexico in 2010 and Father Melo of Honduras in 2015. With this recognition, the director added, a call is made to the Cuban government to stop persecuting artists and human rights defenders and to demand the release of Otero Alcántara and all political prisoners in Cuba. At the same time, it is hoped that the recognition will lead Norway and other countries to keep the focus on human rights defenders and engage in dialogue with Cuban authorities.
The Impact of the Rafto Prize
A Call for Freedom and Justice
Finally, this weekend of November 9th and 10th, the annual Rafto conference and the official award ceremony took place. Hundreds of people gathered in the auditorium of the University and the National Theater of Bergen. During the three-hour conference on Saturday, intellectuals from various fields specializing in Cuba and human rights debated the country’s situation and political prisoners in an attempt to decipher the Cuban chaos. During Sunday’s ceremony, neither the banners nor Luis Manuel’s voice offstage managed to mask his absence. Far from it, they strengthened it, especially when no one else took the stage to accept the award as an act of protest. Not even Yanelys Núñez Leyva, curator and activist co-founder of the San Isidro Movement, who came on behalf of Otero Alcántara, did so.
“The award was unexpected for him,” Yanelys told me, “it is a recognition that gives him strength, visibility, protection, and hopes to encourage the international community to also look at the situation of the rest of the political prisoners.” Yanelys is his personal friend. She speaks to him on the phone every Tuesday and Thursday. It’s just 10 or 12 minutes that she divides among friends and family. In her opinion, Luis Manuel has become a symbol of the Cuban people’s resistance in an organic and natural way, and this has been possible because his concerns resonate with public opinion, because the community around him shares his same concerns. “In a country of such paranoia, so much distrust, where the social fabric is completely deteriorated, he has opened up and shown that we are all in the same place, with the same concerns. Added to this is his use of joy as a method in a country where apathy has taken hold, not a forced joy, but a genuine one.” All these elements have contributed to Luis Manuel reaching the place he occupies today, and to people recognizing him as an authentic and beloved figure.
The Struggle for Freedom and Expression
Beyond the individual recognition of Luis Manuel, this award represents an international wake-up call regarding the Cuban situation. Today, with so many conflicts in the world to worry about, Norway’s decision to award this distinction to an imprisoned Cuban artist shines a spotlight on a country that has been in the dark for so long, barely seen and seemingly undeserving of attention, living off past glories because it has nothing more to offer. Therefore, when we applaud emotionally in that theater and walk with torches through the streets on this cold and dark November Sunday, we do so for Luis Manuel and all Cuban political prisoners to be liberated, but above all, for Cuba to be free.
A Call to Action for Cuba
Never before has Otero Alcántara so faithfully symbolized the Cubans on the island because all of Cuba has long been a dark cell, and its inhabitants are prisoners of a decadent government that offers only two alternatives: to flee or to submit to the torture that everyday life has become. May the Rafto Prize help shed light on Cuba, to bring to the stage all those millions plunged into darkness, to raise awareness among the international community and among Cubans living in migration. It is time to demystify the Cuban process. We, the migrant Cubans, those of us who make up an itinerant Cuba, have the responsibility to act. Cubans inside, immersed in a constant struggle for survival and in a state of permanent despair, have lost their ability to act.
A Cry for Recognition and Justice
I want to see this award as one that uplifts all those who suffer the harsh daily life: for those caregivers of children and the elderly who must put bread on the table and experience cruel exhaustion every day; for those elderly people who live their old age in loneliness because their children have left in search of a better life; for all those who suffer from the lack of electricity due to the collapse of the electrical system, which is nothing more than a symbol of the deterioration of a government that can no longer even illuminate its inhabitants; for the children who could not attend school for a week and who have no choice but to imagine a future away from Cuba. I want to believe that the Rafto Prize is to make them seen, remembered, valued.
The Unseen War in Cuba
A Silent Battle for Human Rights
In Cuba, there is also a war, an endless one, without armed conflict, one that is diluted among many realities, one in which everyday life has become a torture that has taken hold in the psyche of all its inhabitants and for which in recent years, a million Cubans have been forced to move. Every day in Cuba is a silent battle. No bombs have been needed for cities to witness continuous collapses and the people to end up injured losing all battles. Psychological torture is also war. Deprivation of rights is also war. The usurpation of hope from millions of people whose only crime has been to resist is also war.
In an interview with EL PAÍS on July 11th of this year, when he completed his third year of imprisonment, Otero Alcántara declared, due to the arbitrariness of his sentence and the uncertainty of his future: “This confinement has many ways to end,” and now I find it impossible to separate his destiny from that of Cuba.
Conclusion
Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara’s story is not just about one man’s struggle for freedom and expression in Cuba, but a larger narrative of the Cuban people’s fight for human rights and justice. As he continues to be a symbol of resistance, his recognition with the Rafto Prize sheds light on the ongoing challenges faced by political prisoners and activists in Cuba. It is a call to action for the international community to stand in solidarity with those oppressed and to push for a brighter future for Cuba.
FAQ
1. How has Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara been recognized for his work?
Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara was awarded the Rafto Prize for Human Rights for his fight for freedom of expression through art in Cuba.
2. What is the significance of the Rafto Prize for Cuba?
The Rafto Prize serves as an international wake-up call to shed light on the Cuban situation and to demand the release of political prisoners and the promotion of human rights in the country.
Local Life, December 19, 2017
Panic! on the Streets of Prague
By Anna Spysz
1989 brought a domino effect of revolutions. Timothy Garton Ash remarked: “In Poland the transition [from communism to democracy] lasted ten years, in Hungary ten months, in Czechoslovakia ten days.”
Those ten eventful days fell between November 17th and 27th, 1989. After the failure of the Prague Spring, many Czechoslovaks rightfully held doubts about the possibility of revolution, but as events starting in with Solidarity in Gdansk, Poland and continuing in the other Bloc countries seemed hopeful, the revolution in Czechoslovakia became inevitable.
The Velvet Revolution would not have been possible were it not for the monumental events unfolding in the other Communist Bloc countries. The Estonian Singing Revolution was well on its way in Estonia, not to mention the election of Solidarity members to Poland‘s government. On August 23rd, 1989, two million people from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania joined hands along a 600km stretch of road between Tallinn, Riga and Vilnius. Finally, November 9th, 1989 brought the fall of the infamous Berlin Wall. Also, on December 4th the border to Austria was opened, effectively ending the Iron Curtain division of East and West.
On the first day of the revolution, a peaceful student demonstration to commemorate International Students’ Day began in Prague and ended with violence on Narodni Street, when riot police blocked off escape routes and severely beat students. That first domino began an avalanche, as almost every day afterwards until the end of December brought more protests with more and more people participating. By November 20 an estimated half-million of peaceful protesters took to the streets, up from the 200,000 of the day before. A general two-hour strike that involved all citizens of Czechoslovakia was held on November 27th (various video clips from these protests and from the Warsaw Pact invasion of 1968 can be seen at the Museum of Communism in Prague). After that, demonstrations were being held almost daily in Prague’s Wenceles Square as well as in Bratislava.
One of the most important developments was the establishment of the Civic Forum by Vaclav Havel and other prominent members of Charter 77 and other dissident organizations, which would establish much of the post-revolution leadership, including Havel as president. The Forum was a mass popular movement for reforms that called for the dismissal of top officials responsible for the violent attack on the students, an independent investigation of the incident and the release of all political prisoners.
On November 28th the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia sensed its defeat and agreed to give up their monopoly on political power. On December 10th, Communist President Gustav Husak appointed the first largely non-communist government in Czechoslovakia since 1948, and resigned. Alexander Dubcek was elected speaker of the federal parliament on December 28 and Vaclav Havel became the first president of a free Czechoslovakia since 1948 on December 29, 1989. With Havel as president, the students ended their strike and the Velvet Revolution ended. Afterwards, the first democratic elections since 1946 were held in June 1990, and brought the first completely non-communist government to Czechoslovakia in over forty years.
https://www.local-life.com/prague/articles/velvet-revolution