Otero Alcántara denounces lack of freedoms in Cuba at United Nations

Cuban artist and activist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara addressed the United Nations after going into exile in the United States. He called Cuba's system a dictatorship and said the population lacks freedom and lives under systematic repression. His remarks centered political and civil liberties.

Otero Alcántara criticized treatment of alternatives to those in power. He said the government punishes such proposals and argued that dictatorships fear ideas that expand freedom. The allegation links political criticism with the ability to present different projects.

He also said education is conditioned by official ideology and alleged persecution of dissenting artistic expression. Those claims extend his criticism beyond political power to public and cultural life.

The event at U.N. headquarters brought together former prisoners of conscience, opposition figures and experts. His remarks therefore reached an audience that included people connected to opposition activity and specialist analysis.

Otero Alcántara summarized his position by calling Cuba a dictatorship and alleging punishment of freedom-oriented proposals, ideological education and persecution of dissenting art. These were his statements at the United Nations and form the core of his political criticism.