Alcantara talking with supporters upon arriving in Miami, USA [AFP=Yonhap News]

Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara (38), a prominent Cuban dissident artist, has arrived in the United States after being released from a five-year prison sentence on the condition of exile, the Associated Press reported on the 19th (local time).

According to the report, Alcántara arrived at Miami International Airport in Florida the previous day, where he was greeted by supporters with enthusiastic cheers and songs.

Supporters filmed him with their smartphones and draped a Cuban flag featuring the slogan "Patria y Vida" (Homeland and Life) over his shoulders.

"Patria y Vida" is the title of a hip-hop song that won "Song of the Year" at the 22nd Latin Grammy Awards in Las Vegas in November 2021, and it has since become an iconic anthem for anti-government forces resisting the Cuban regime's repression.

Alcántara was arrested during large-scale anti-government protests across Cuba in July 2021. The following year, a court sentenced him to five years in prison on charges including public disorder, contempt of court, and disrespecting national symbols.

While major international human rights organizations like Amnesty International and the U.S. government had repeatedly called for his release, labeling him a "prisoner of conscience," the Cuban government had previously refused.

The U.S. government recently granted him humanitarian parole. It is reported that Alcántara decided to seek asylum in the U.S. to escape persecution and continue his artistic and social activism.

Upon setting foot on U.S. soil, Alcántara’s first scheduled activity was a visit to the National Shrine of Our Lady of Charity in Miami to offer his devotions.

He unveiled a broken statue of the Virgin Mary that he had brought from Cuba, describing it as "a symbol of hope and healing, putting the shattered pieces back together."

Supporters urged the international community to continue its attention and pressure to secure the release of other political prisoners still held in Cuban jails, such as rapper Castillo Pérez, known as "Maykel Osorbo."