Cuban dissident artist arrives in US after five years in prison

Cuban dissident artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara arrived in the United States on Saturday after completing a five-year prison sentence on the communist-run island. Otero Alcántara, co-founder of Cuba's opposition San Isidro Movement, was welcomed in Miami by a group of singing supporters and visited the National Shrine of Our Lady of Charity.



Speaking outside the church to journalists and members of the Cuban community, he thanked the U.S. and the European Union and reiterated calls for a change of government in Cuba.



"I believe the dictatorship has to end, and the Castro dynasty has to end, as well," Otero Alcántara said. "Because as long as there is a Castro in power, there will be corruption."



Responsibility for rebuilding the country lies with Cubans themselves, he said. "Cuba's future depends on us, the Cuban people," Otero Alcántara said.



Otero Alcántara, 38, was detained by Cuban authorities in 2021 amidst the largest anti-government protests seen in Cuba in decades.



He was convicted of offenses including desecration of national symbols, contempt and public disorder, and spent five years in the Guanajay prison near Havana.