Cuban artist hospitalized after a hunger strike
Luis Manuel Otero Alcantara, 33, is the leader of the San Isidro protest movement (MSI) of artists and intellectuals pressing for free speech and other rights in the communist nation.
A leading Cuban dissident artist has been hospitalized after spending one week on a hunger strike in protest of the government’s seizure of his art, with health authorities in the capital Havana saying he is in stable condition.
The Havana public health department said Sunday the artist had been taken to the emergency unit of the General Calixto Garcia university hospital in the capital with symptoms of "voluntary starvation".
Several of Otero Alcantara’s works were seized when he was arrested earlier this month during a protest action. Sunday marked the eighth day of his hunger strike.
Members of MSI, a group of artists and activists demanding free speech and greater liberties, said state security had forced Otero Alcantara from his home and that he was in custody, presumably at the hospital.
Several of Otero Alcantara's works were seized when he was arrested earlier this month during a protest action.
After being released, he was re-arrested several times for trying to leave his home, which has been surrounded by police, and once for handing out candy to children as part of an artistic performance the government said was a political provocation.
Police denied access to two priests and others wishing to visit Otero Alcantara at home during his hunger strike. His internet was cut off.
"Luis Manuel can no longer stay upright, his skin and mouth are parched, he does not urinate or speak. He has an inflamed throat," fellow MSI member Amaury Pacheco, a poet, said on Twitter Saturday.
That same day, US State Department official Julie Chung raised concerns about Otero Alcantara’s condition and urged the Cuban government “to take immediate steps to protect his life and health”.
The US Embassy in Cuba said on Sunday that Otero Alcantara, like all Cubans, “deserves to be treated with dignity and respect”.
“We have seen reports that he is hospitalized and his condition is stable. We urge the authorities to protect his well-being at this difficult time,” the embassy tweeted.
The Cuban government accuses Otero Alcantara and other members of MSI of political revolt funded by the United States.
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