Cuba Offered Exile to Two Political Prisoners After U.S. Talks

Cuban state security agents offered two imprisoned artists the choice between exile and continued imprisonment days after secret talks between U.S. and Cuban officials in Havana, according to exclusive audio obtained by USA TODAY. The offers were made to Maykel Castillo Pérez, 42, on April 15 at Kilo 8 maximum-security prison in Pinar del Río, and to Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara the following day at a maximum-security prison in Guanajay, southwest of Havana.

U.S. officials had told Cuban counterparts on April 10 that they had two weeks to free political prisoners as a measure of goodwill. Both men agreed to exile. The two-week deadline passed without their release. They and at least a dozen other political prisoners are now at the center of high-stakes negotiations between the United States and Cuba.

Otero grew up in the San Isidro neighborhood near the Port of Havana and became friends. They helped form the San Isidro Movement, a collective of artists, musicians and writers protesting lack of freedoms on the island. In 2021, Castillo co-created the song “Patria y Vida,” which denounced restrictions on freedoms and became an anthem for widespread street protests.

The song’s video gained more than 1 million views on YouTube. Castillo was arrested on May 18, 2021, charged with contempt of authority and defamation of state institutions, and sentenced to nine years in prison. Otero was arrested in July 2021 on his way to street protests and later sentenced to five years.

Human Rights groups said at least 1,000 people were detained during the demonstrations. There are currently more than 1,250 political prisoners in Cuban jails and prisons, according to the Madrid-based group Prisoners Defenders.