Cuban Artist Hamlet Lavastida Released from Prison After Three Months

Hamlet Lavastida has been freed following three months of detention at Villa Marista prison in Havana. The artist was arrested on June 27 after returning from Berlin, where he participated in a residency and exhibition at Künstlerhaus Bethanien. His Berlin show in April and May featured two immersive paper-cut installations. One wall displayed a transcription of photographer Javier Caso's 2020 interrogation by state agents, along with a leaked audio recording and a 1971 letter from poet Heberto Padilla. The opposite wall presented an archive of testimonies from Cuba's 1960s socialist doctrinal period. Lavastida leads the 27N movement, a collective of Cuban artists, writers, and musicians protesting government human rights abuses since November 2020. The group formed after rapper Denis Solís González's arrest. While imprisoned, Lavastida reportedly suffered depression, anxiety, contracted COVID-19, and lost over 10 kilograms. He was charged with 'instigation to commit a crime.' Julie Trébault, director of the Artists at Risk Connection at PEN America, condemned the Cuban government's actions, stating the charges violate international treaty commitments on freedom of expression. In Germany, Lavastida joined demonstrations calling for the release of fellow artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, who was arrested in May after a hunger strike and later named a 2021 'icon' by Time magazine.