Thursday, May 14, 2026, episode of the podcast The Excerpt: On April 10, the United States gave Cuban leaders only two weeks to release political prisoners if they wanted to preemptively reach a deal with the United States. Cuba then offered two high-profile prisoners, Maykel Castillo Pérez and Luis Manuel Otero Alcantara, either leave Cuba or stay behind bars and rot in prison. Both agreed to the expulsion. However, both men are still languishing behind bars. USA TODAY investigative reporter Rick Jarvis joins The Excerpt to talk about the future of Castillo and Otero, as well as high-level negotiations between U.S. and Cuban officials.
Press play in the player below to listen to the podcast and follow the transcript below. This transcript was automatically generated and edited in its current format for clarity. There may be some differences between audio and text.
Podcast: For true crime stories, in-depth interviews, and more USA TODAY podcasts, click here
Dana Taylor:
Cuba, a longtime ally of Venezuela, has been a target of the White House since the moment the Trump administration overthrew former Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro. In the aftermath of the operation, President Donald Trump declared “Cuba will be next.” On April 10, the United States gave Cuban leaders only two weeks to release political prisoners if they wanted to preemptively reach a deal with the United States. Cuba then made offers to two prominent prisoners, Maykel Castillo Pérez and Luis Manuel Otero Alcantara. They either leave Cuba or stay and rot in prison. Both men agreed to be expelled but are still languishing in prison.
Hello. Welcome to this excerpt from USA TODAY. I’m Dana Taylor. Today is Thursday, May 14, 2026. USA TODAY investigative reporter Rick Jarvis joins us here to talk about the future of Castillo and Otero, as well as high-level negotiations between U.S. and Cuban officials. Rick, thank you so much for taking the time to join us.
Rick Jarvis:
I’m glad to be here, Danna.
Dana Taylor:
Rick, could you start by telling us how you found out about these two prisoners, Castillo and Otero? Who are they and why is their story so fascinating to you and your colleagues?
Rick Jarvis:
So most people who have been following Cuba over the last few years have probably heard of these two guys. Maykel Castillo Pérez is a Cuban rapper and Luis Manuel Otero Alcantara is an activist and visual artist who became very famous during the mass protests in Cuba in 2021, mainly because Maykel was actually part of the rap group that created the song “Patria y Vida”. It was a hip-hop song written by Cuban exile hip-hop artists on and off the island.
And it’s kind of a protest song. It basically denounced the lack of many freedoms in Cuba, and it spread quickly. And within a few months, it had over 1 million views. And the song became a kind of anthem for the massive protests that took place in Cuba in 2021. In other words, it was a really well-known song. It is known that Maykel was part of it, and Lewis was also deeply involved in the actual group that created it.
And they were arrested in 2021. Michael was arrested in May 2021, and Luis Manuel was arrested in July of the same year. They were then sentenced to nine years in prison and five years in prison, respectively. And the two became very famous later that year, as the song “Patria y Vida” won two Latin Grammy Awards later that year. Although Meikel was in prison, he basically couldn’t attend the actual ceremony, but the song became really popular, and after that, these two really gained worldwide recognition.
Dana Taylor:
Castillo and Otero each recorded audio from prison and shared those files exclusively with USA TODAY. I’d like to start with Otello’s audio. Could you please set this up?
Rick Jarvis:
Basically, we wanted to hear directly from these two individuals. So we can call these two people through a third party and basically record some of their thoughts. What you are about to hear is Luis Manuel’s first-hand thoughts on some of the protests that took place in 2021 that ultimately landed him in prison.
Luis Manuel Otero Alcantara:
(Translator Ramon Padilla) What we are talking about is a process that has been going on in this country for more than six or seven years. Change is happening in Cuba. The San Isidro movement, other movements, and the entire opposition. And on July 11, protests broke out outside the Ministry of Culture. All of these, we would argue, are signs of a Cuba in transition. The Cuba that Americans are now stepping up to help is a big boost to Cuba, which is built on civil society. All Cuban exiles. We are that civil society, and we have tried to organize in Cuba and abroad, with varying degrees of success.
Dana Taylor:
Rick, what did you think when you heard this?
Rick Jarvis:
It was really interesting. First of all, it is very difficult to understand someone’s thoughts inside a Cuban prison. These are obviously very heavily guarded facilities, and the individuals inside don’t have much freedom. So it was really amazing to hear someone’s story from behind bars.
But what Luis Manuel raises is also very interesting. People tend to forget that. There’s a lot of talk about Cubans, exiles, and civil society outside of Cuba, but Luis Manuel is basically trying to remind everyone that there is a civil society in Cuba, and that there are intellectuals and thinkers and artists and writers who are really trying to bring about change in Cuba.
Dana Taylor:
There is also an audio recording of Castillo talking about his determination to fight for change. Let’s listen.
Maykel Castillo Perez:
(Translator Ramon Padilla) We need people with sufficient capabilities to emerge. Someone who understands people’s problems and can move the country forward instead of backwards. We are 50 years behind. We need people who can move our country forward. When I say “progress” I mean the economy will improve. Improving justice. That courts are fair.
Dana Taylor:
Castillo is clearly frustrated, which is understandable given his current situation. What do you think here?
Rick Jarvis:
Yeah, this is interesting too. Meichel is very different from Luis Manuel in several ways. From what I’ve been told, he’s more of a street guy. So what you’re going to hear is a more intuitive answer from him. And there’s a lot of frustration exuding from him, both in his words and his tone. He was sentenced to nine years in prison. So there’s a certain palpable sense of hopelessness around him, and he’s very open about his sense of hopelessness and his lack of hope that change will ever happen in Cuba.
Dana Taylor:
Let’s zoom out a little bit now and talk about the steps this administration has taken against Cuba so far to force change.
Rick Jarvis:
Yeah. Following the January raid that effectively arrested Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro, the Trump administration took control of virtually all of the country’s oil production and imposed an oil embargo on Cuba. Cuba has suffered from power outages before. They’ve been suffering from an economy that basically collapsed, and now they’re really struggling. There is very little oil flowing in and out of the country, and the country is suffering greatly from prolonged power outages.
The Trump administration tightened sanctions. They basically increased the economic pressure on the island. At the same time, they have held numerous backchannel talks with Cuban leaders, seeking long-standing economic reforms, some form of political reform, and the release of political prisoners in exchange for sanctions relief. But I think it’s kind of a really surprising turn of events and something that a lot of people didn’t expect from this administration.
Dana Taylor:
The Biden administration appeared to have made significant progress in releasing political prisoners in Cuba. Tell me about that and how the Trump administration’s approach has changed.
Rick Jarvis:
In January 2025, former President Biden took steps to essentially remove Cuba from the US list of state sponsors of terrorism. And with that, through negotiations brokered by the Catholic Church, Cuba actually began releasing political prisoners, including some of the protesters who were actually arrested during the 2021 protests. And the traction was there. However, shortly after that, President Trump took office, presumably putting Cuba back on the state aid list, and these efforts have since stalled.
President Trump’s approach is actually very different. He has a fairly large stick to swing around along with a few carrots. So he’s doing both. He’s basically aggressively showing Cuba that he kind of holds all the cards with the oil embargo, but he’s also offering him another carrot. He proposes easing sanctions. He is proposing an economic agreement that could make Cuba truly prosperous. And it will be very interesting to see how it plays out.
Dana Taylor:
What will happen to the high-level talks between these two political prisoners?
Rick Jarvis:
Now, it’s just a wait and see game. We are told that both of these political prisoners, Castillo and Alcantara, are on the list of selected political prisoners who have asked for their release. High-level talks seem to have stalled at the moment. There were some very advanced talks that seemed to get a little traction, but nothing has happened since then.
So what the Trump administration does next is something of a wait-and-see game. And I think a lot of people are waiting to see if Cuba will start releasing some of its actual political prisoners as an act of goodwill. And obviously Maykel and Luis Manuel are at the top of the list, so we’ll see what happens.
Dana Taylor:
Rick Jervis is an investigative reporter for USA TODAY. Rick, thank you for sharing your report with The Excerpt.
Rick Jarvis:
of course. Thank you, Danna.
Dana Taylor:
Thank you for your attention. I’m Dana Taylor. Our stories come from USA TODAY journalists across the country. Come back tomorrow morning for a closer look at another important story.
Note: Cuban officials did not respond to USA TODAY requests for comment.
In response to a request for comment from USA TODAY, State Department officials said the Cuban regime continues to show indifference to the suffering of the Cuban people and continues to hold hundreds of political prisoners. The official reiterated that President Trump supports a diplomatic solution but will not allow Cuba to deteriorate into a larger national security threat.
