US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the Cuban government’s “brutal repression against its own people five years ago is another reminder of the unique misery and evil that is innate to the communist system.”

“Otero Alcántara’s only ‘crime’ was refusing to remain silent and use his art to demand the basic freedoms that Cubans have been denied every day for almost seven decades,” he said in a statement.

The cases of Otero Alcántara and SIM partner Maykel Castillo, known as “Osorbo”, who is serving an eight-year prison sentence, have been a recurring focus of diplomatic tension between Washington and Havana.

That tension has increased in recent months, as the Trump administration hit Cuba with an oil blockade, sanctions and open threats of military intervention.

Last week, the BBC’s US news partner CBS reported that the Pentagon was considering military options in Cuba, although it cited officials as saying the briefings did not mean any decision had been made to carry out an operation.

The US oil blockade has exacerbated an ongoing fuel crisis, and Cubans have faced prolonged blackouts and food shortages in recent months.

The United States also announced in May an unprecedented murder charge against former Cuban leader Raul Castro for the downing of two planes in 1996, an incident that killed four people. Russia and China condemned the move.

Tourism has been hit hard amid US sanctions, with fewer than 360,000 people visiting the island in the first five months of 2026, a decrease of almost 60% compared to the same period last year, according to Onei.

Washington warned in May that a peaceful agreement with the Caribbean nation was unlikely.