The death of the Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny last month, after years of confinement in a Siberian jail, and subsequent quelling of protest, emphasised the flourishing of censorship across a globe riven by geopolitical crises, in a year when democracy is put to the test in more than 70 countries. With the threat of electoral misinformation being boosted by AI-generated content and social media algorithms, artists have been warning of new kinds of censorship. The effect is being felt in real life, online and in social media

Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara was imprisoned on charges of contempt and insult to national symbols when widespread protests swept the nation in 2021

Open letter also says that the regime is ‘using art to salvage its public image’

Since the passage of the country’s repressive Decree 349, the state has gone to great lengths to silence critical voices—but artists refuse to be silenced

Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara was sentenced to five years in prison in June

After more than a year in prison, Otero Alcántara was convicted of “insulting national symbols”

The letter, signed by more than 300 well-known figures in the arts, adds pressure to calls for the Cuban government to let artists live and work freely

The artist will face a summary trial in ten days while activists say the arrest amounts to "state terrorism"

As the cultural event gets under way, a Cuban-American artist is also blocked from entering Cuba