Cuban dissident leader wins Norwegian human rights award

OSLO, Norway — A Norwegian human rights foundation gave its annual prize on Thursday to jailed Cuban dissident leader Luis Manuel Otero Alcantara for his “fearless opposition to authoritarianism through art.”

Four past laureates of the Rafto prize — Myanmar’s Aung San Suu Kyi, East Timor’s Jose Ramos-Horta, South Korea’s Kim Dae-jung and Iran’s Shirin Ebadi — later went on to win the Nobel Peace Prize.

This year’s Peace Prize will be announced on Oct. 11 in Oslo.

“The 2024 Rafto prize aims to highlight the importance of the work of Luis Manuel Otero Alcantara and other artists in challenging power structures and defending democracy and human rights, both in Cuba and globally,” the Norwegian foundation said in a statement.

A Cuban court sentenced the artist-dissident in 2022 to five years in jail in a high-profile case that human rights groups branded a “farce” but that Cuban state media said was a fair trial over “common crimes.”

The 36-year-old artist was a prominent member of the Havana-based San Isidro Movement, an artists collective that led a number of protests over two years. Many of the group have since left Cuba, alleging government repression.

On Thursday, the Rafto foundation called on the Cuban government to release him, joining similar calls by Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International.

The laureate is awarded a diploma and prize money of $20,000.
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