Cuban government ends leading dissident's hunger strike

FILE PHOTO: Dissident artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcantara speaks during an interview at the headquarters of San Isidro Movement in Havana, Cuba, April 6, 2021. REUTERS/Alexandre Meneghini/File Photo

HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuba's government put an end on Sunday to a week-long hunger strike staged by a leading dissident - the head of a group that has protested state censorship of artistic works - and was reported by authorities to be in stable condition.

A note published by the Havana Department of Public Health said Luis Manuel Otero Alcantara was "referred" to a local hospital early on Sunday for "self-imposed food deprivation" and arrived by ambulance "and walking without difficulty." He had spent seven days without food or fluids.