Cuban artist and prisoner of conscience Maykel Castillo Pérez a.k.a. Osorbo turns 39 in prison for his music.

Maykel Castillo Pérez a.k.a. Osorbo

Cuban artist and musician Maykel Castillo Pérez turned 39 years old today in a Cuban prison. He was born on August 20, 1983. 

Cuban prisoner of conscience Maykel Castillo Pérez “Osorbo” was sentenced to nine years in prison by the Castro regime on June 24, 2022. He was already arbitrarily detained for over a year at the time. 

Amnesty International offered the following background information on this prisoner of conscience on August 19, 2021.  

"Maykel Castillo Pérez,known by his stage name Maykel Osorbo, is a Cuban musician and human rights activist. He is one of the authors of “Patria y Vida”, a song critical of the Cuban government that has been adopted as a protest anthem. On 4 April 2021, Maykel was walking in Havana when police officers questioned him and attempted to arrest him but desisted in the face of complaints from other passersby who considered the action unjust."

Eight days later on April 12, 2021 Maykel was the victim of a physical assault engineered by the secret police. Maykel was assaulted in Havana by strangers as state security agents filmed the assault. Maykel Castillo denounced the incident on a live broadcast through Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara's social media where Maykel stated, "I'm a tough black," he said. "Not even a thousand beatings are going to make me cross my arms and close my mouth," he warned. He underscored the danger facing him, and the possible escalation of violence by the dictatorship, and his commitment to nonviolence. “If you break a bone, it stays broken. If I die for that, the fault will be yours, because you are a murderer, " he said, addressing the government. 

"On 18 May [2021], security agents arrived at his home and arrested him. He is being held at the Pinar del Río Provincial Prison under charges of 'assault', 'resistance', 'evasion of prisoners and detainees' and 'public disorder.'"

Maykel Castillo in the midst of a protest in San Isidro on April 4, 2021

This is not his first time he was jailed for a matter of conscience. On September 21, 2018 Cuban rapper Maykel Castillo Pérez, "El Osorbo" protested against Decree 349/2018 during a show in Cuba. Three days after the concert, he was detained by the Cuban secret police, and kept jailed. 

On March 20, 2019 Maykel was sentenced to one year and six months in prison, and learned of his sentence on April 22, 2019. He was released on October 23, 2019. Decree 349 is a law that further restricts artistic freedoms in Cuba.

Take two minutes during the Amnesty Concert and save a Cuban musician

Gorki faces 10 years in prison for his political lyrics

Tonight the world over human rights defenders and music lovers are following the #AmnestyConcert in New York City where Madonna and members of Pussy Riot will be participating. Down south past Key West in Havana, Cuba a punk rocker, Gorki Luis Águila Carrasco, who defended the members of Pussy Riot when they were locked up in a Russian prison faces a trial next Tuesday at 8:30am and faces a 10 year prison sentence. There is a petition circulating calling for his immediate freedom. Please demonstrate your solidarity and sign it.

While enjoying the concert take 2 minutes and help save a musician

The Cuban punk rocker who is facing a summary trial for his powerful political lyrics that is being disguised by the Cuban government as a trial for a common crime involving drugs. Looking at the details, the government's case falls apart. Gorki is an epileptic and a doctor has prescribed medication. All of this is backed up by the prescription itself and the notarized letter by the physician. Unfortunately, in Cuba a fair trial is an impossibility but international attention and pressure can still save the day. Below is a video from Gorki explaining the need for solidarity and the danger that he faces. The video is in Spanish but beneath it is an English translation of what he is saying.

Hello, my name is Gorki Águila, the leader of the band Porno para Ricardo, I’m here doing this video because I want to call for the solidarity of all people who want to help me this time.

The regime is trying to link me to a common crime. I have been an opponent of the regime for a long time. They don’t miss the opportunity to try link us and discredit us in common crimes in order to silence us in some way. They are going to hold a trial on the 11th of February at 8:30am in Marianao in the hall of a trial. It is a summary trial. It is a trial that I believe is profoundly unjust because the defense does not have access to the case files of the prosecution. These types of trials are customarily done in totalitarian countries. They are extremely fast trials done in a series and are fabricated and decided beforehand.

That’s why I appeal to all who want to show their solidarity because this can be very dangerous for me since they always want to find ways to jail me.

Another thing I wanted to say to you is that - - well, I’m an optimistic man and solely through the solidarity of all of you that we can achieve things like this that the regime not commit this injustice.

Thank you very much. Hopefully we’ll achieve it.

Below is one of the videos that has drawn the Cuban government's ire. Produced one year ago it recalls the largest anti-government protests during the Castro era with the August 5, 1994 Maleconazo were thousands of Cubans took to the streets shouting freedom and were met with massive repression and the only option was to leave the country.