Voces Presas Renews Calls for the Immediate Release of Cuban Artists
New campaign action engages the international community and underscores the stories of unjustly incarcerated Cuban creatives
July 23, 2024
(New York | London | Stockholm)—Today, Artists at Risk Connection (ARC), PEN International, and Civil Rights Defenders (CRD) announced the launch of a new phase of their Voces Presas campaign through a series of videos that showcase the stories of artists unjustly imprisoned in Cuba. The organizations urge the international community to call for the release of the five individuals featured in the campaign. Voces Presas began in November 2022 amid heightened repression and concern for a growing number of artists detained because of their free expression. The profiles and illustrations created for the campaign humanize and explore the stories of poet Maria Cristina Garrido Rodriguez, musician Randy Arteaga Rivera, multidisciplinary artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, rapper Maykel Castillo Pérez, and tattoo and graffiti artist Jessica Lisbeth Torres Calvo. In addition to criminalizing the independent and dissident artistic community, Cuban authorities have expanded the harassment and intimidation of artists and writers in recent years, as documented in ARC, PEN International, and Cubalex’s Método Cuba: Independent Artists’ Testimonies of Forced Exile. The report compiles testimonies from 17 Cuban artists in exile and other expert perspectives detailing the experiences of the independent Cuban artistic community. Similarly, War, Censorship, and Persecution: PEN International Case List 2023/2024, documents diverse attacks against more than a dozen Cuban creatives in retaliation for their expression. The organizations renew the campaign’s demands that:
- The Cuban government immediately releases all imprisoned artists and guarantees freedom of expression, artistic freedom and peaceful demonstrations in the country.
- The embassies of the European Union and the Americas in Cuba call on the Cuban government to allow them to visit the imprisoned artists to verify their conditions and subsequently issue reports with the findings of these visits.
- Organizations and individuals call on the Cuban government to eliminate the stigmatizing concept of “non-state public spaces” and to remove the requirement for state approval, one of the most repressive measures of Decree 349, for artists to freely exhibit their work.
About the Artists at Risk Connection The Artists at Risk Connection (ARC) is dedicated to assisting imperiled artists and fortifying the networks and organizations that support them. If you or someone you know is an at-risk artist, please contact ARC.
About PEN International PEN International is the foremost and largest association of writers which stands at the intersection of literature and human rights to protect free expression around the world. Founded in London in 1921, PEN International – PEN’s Secretariat – connects an international community of writers. PEN operates across five continents through over 130 Centres in over 90 countries. It is a forum where writers meet freely to discuss their work; it is also a voice speaking out for writers silenced in their own countries. www.pen-international.org.
About Civil Rights Defenders Civil Rights Defenders was founded as the Swedish Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in 1982. Today, we partner with and support human rights defenders who work in some of the world’s most repressive regions on four continents. Through advocacy, litigation, and public campaigns, CRD advances people’s rights globally. We also act as Sweden’s watchdog civil rights group.