Graduating with degrees of Journalism and Philosophy and Letters in 1954 at the Havana University, he also studied at The Sorbonne in Paris.
Otero won the Novel Prize in Casa de las Américas Contest in 1963 with La situación (The Situation).
In 1965, he won an award at the Biblioteca Breve from Seix Parral Editorial Awards in Barcelona for his novel Pasión de Urbino (Urbino's Passion) and received the Literary Critics Prize for Temporadas de Angeles (Angel's Season) (1983).
He undertook diplomatic activities as cultural counselor in the Cuban embassies of Chile, Great Britain and Soviet Union.
He penned the script for the musical comedy El Solar, which has been made into a movie and a ballet.