US calls on Cuba to treat hospitalized dissident artist with ‘dignity and respect’ – International

The United States on Friday (21) expressed concern over the treatment of Luis Manuel Odero Alcondara, a dissident artist by the Cuban government, and called for “dignity and respect.” He was admitted to a hospital in Havana for almost three weeks without contact, and was declared a “prisoner of conscience” by Amnesty International.

“@LMOAlcantara and all Cubans must be respected and treated with dignity,” the US embassy in Havana said on Twitter.

He further added that Washington “expressed its solidarity with the Cuban people and expressed concern that the government would treat it with dignity and respect.”

“How is it possible that a patient in a hospital does not have a visit or a phone call?” He asked.

The Cuban government has accused 33-year-old Odero Alcandara of trying to manipulate the political situation and of funding and controlling the US-based Instituto Democordico National.

Otero Alcantara, a member of the San Isitro Movement (MSI), a group of opposition university artists, was transferred to a hospital in Havana on the eighth day after announcing his hunger strike on May 2.

Through this protest, he demanded the withdrawal of works confiscated by security agents and an end to police harassment and artistic freedom against him.

In declaring Odero Alcantara a “prisoner of conscience” for the third time, Amnesty International said in a statement on the organisation’s website that “President Miguel Das-Colonel Permides and other Cuban officials should release him.”

The disgruntled artist “lost his freedom for expressing himself peacefully and should be released immediately and unconditionally,” said Erica Guevara, AI director of the United States.

The NGO, since he was taken to the hospital, denounced the artist as “under the supervision or control of state security officials and with the most prohibited visits of his direct family members”.

And, “he doesn’t seem to have access to his phone or the outside world,” he said.

Amnesty International had already summoned supporters from Ottero on Thursday and wrote a letter to Das-Colonel demanding his release.