Rapper Denis Solís asks for greater support for the cause for the release of Cuban political prisoners

The Cuban rapper Denis Solís, former political prisoner, asked this Monday on social networks not to lower "the cry for freedom" for the artistLuis Manuel Otero, the musicianMaykel Castillo (Maykel Osorbo), journalistEsteban Rodriguez and the activistLuis Robles, all in deprivation of liberty.

Solis, whoHe has been residing in Serbia since the end of 2021, is one of the key figures in the history of Cuban dissident activism of the last two years on the island.His imprisonment and sentence to eight months in prison, for verbally challenging a police officer who entered his home without an order, triggered the quartering of several intellectuals and activists for several days at the headquarters of the San Isidro Movement (MSI), in November 2020.

This event meant a certain dynamization of Cuban civil society, inside and outside Cuba, and served as inspiration, to some extent, for the song Patria y Vida, which was the soundtrack of the social outbreak of July 11 and in November 2021 received two Latin Grammy Awards; while one of its authors and performers, the rapper Maykel Castillo, is in a maximum security prison and with symptoms of a serious illness, still undiagnosed.

"It is necessary to continue the clamor for them and all the political prisoners, without pause. These warriors of the history of Cuba, more than honor, deserve support and effectively from all international organizations. Because now they suffer torture within those dungeons of Castro-communist socialism," he said on his personal Facebook profile.

Of the four young people mentioned by Solís, all with black skin or mixed race, the one who has been behind bars the longest is Robles, 29, since he was arrested in December 2020.for demonstrating peacefully on San Rafael Boulevard, in Old Havana, with a sign demanding freedom, the end of repression and the release of Denis Solís, who was then imprisoned.

He is currently in the prison known as Combinado del Este, accused of the alleged crimes of "enemy propaganda" and "resistance", and the prosecution requested inhis judgment a joint sentence of six years of deprivation of liberty. From jail,has reported that he has been subjected to cruel and degrading treatment: He has been placed in a punishment cell on at least five occasions, left without food for three days, chained by his hands and feet, and forced to stand in chains for hours.

The other three young people, members of the MSI, have suffered a similar fate. Esteban Rodríguez, a collaborator of ADN Cuba, was arrested in a peaceful demonstration on April 30, 2021, in solidarity with the artist Luis Manuel Otero, who was then on a hunger strike and under police siege in his home, and was accused of "Disturbance of public order".

Then, on May 18, the arrest of Maykel Osorbo occurred. Currently, his state of health, greatly affected by the violence of which he has been a victim by the regime and the hunger strikes he has carried out as protests, has seriously deteriorated. In November, a statement from researcher and activist Anamely RamosHe explained that he had problems in the lymphatic system. He is accused ofthe alleged crimes of attacks, public disorders and "escape of prisoners or detainees".

Luis Manuel Otero was the last to be imprisoned, on July 11, the day of the anti-government protests, when he tried to join them in Havana, he has been placed in a maximum security prison, like Castillo. He is accused of aggravated contempt, public disorder, instigation to commit a crime and insult to national symbols. The latter, due to a performance with the Cuban flag.

In Cuba, 2022 began with more than 800 people imprisoned for political reasons, most of them for having participated in the July demonstrations.