Musician who shared Grammy for ‘Patria y Vida’ leaves island on parole
Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, a prominent Cuban dissident artist and musician, arrived at the airport on Saturday to a crowd of cheering supporters who sang, held phones aloft and draped him in a Cuban flag bearing the words “Patria y Vida” — “Homeland and Life” — the title of a song he shared a Grammy for that became an anthem for Cuba’s political opposition.
The 38-year-old had been released from a five-year prison sentence on the condition that he leave the island. The United States granted him parole earlier this week, according to a social media page maintained by his friends and supporters, who wrote that he accepted exile as the only way to escape persecution and continue his art.
Alcántara co-founded the San Isidro Movement, a collective of Havana artists, writers and musicians named for the neighborhood where he lived.
He was arrested on July 11, 2021, during a public protest. In 2022, a Cuban court sentenced him to five years in prison on charges of public disorder, contempt and disrespecting national symbols.