Amaury Pacheco del Monte

Amaury Pacheco del Monte is a multidisciplinary artist whose work includes poetry, sculpture, performance, audiovisual work, and independent cultural production. In 1997, Amaury co-founded and directed the artist collective OmniZonafranca which acted as a space of creation and resistance. The collective also organized the poetry festival, “Poesía Sin Fin” which operated for 15 years, promoting freedom of expression and artistic intervention in an increasingly repressive social and political context.

In 2018, Amaury also played a key role in founding and coordinating the San Isidro Movement, a collective of Cuban artists, journalists, and academics formed to protect artistic freedom amid increased government censorship and suppression in Cuba. In many ways, the collective emerged as a response to Decree 349 and escalating censorship in Cuba. 

The daring creatives of the San Isidro Movement spurred a rallying cry for artists, journalists, and intellectuals who the government had censored. As a result of their peaceful protests and artistic interventions, several of its members were later, surveilled, arrested, and imprisoned. Many now find themselves in exile.

Amaury faced years of government surveillance and harassment due to his socially engaged artistry. In 2023, he was able to leave Cuba and now lives in exile in Miami, Florida with his wife and children. 

During his fellowship with ARC and PEN International, Amaury worked on the book, Poética de la Emigración Forzada (Poetics of Forced Migration). The book is a genre-bending story of art, activism, and the restorative power of community, weaving together diary and poetry to compile a rich tapestry of Pacheco’s memories on the island and abroad. Through his autobiographical prose, Pacheco gives an intimate glimpse into the bittersweet highs and lows faced by many artists at risk. 

The book details the independent artistic movement in Cuba, the repression and forced exile Pacheco faced as a result of his activism, and the new obstacles and hopes he found after reuniting with his family in Miami. His literary wit, combined with manual sections providing tangible resources for fellow immigrants demonstrates a poet, father, and activist who has not ceased his fight for a better and more just Cuba.