International organizations demand the immediate release of Maykel Osorbo and Luis Manuel Otero

At least 13 international organizations demanded the release of Cuban artists Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara and Maykel "Osorbo" Castillo Pérez, detained in Cuban prisons for their protest art against the communist regime in Havana.

"Given that the Cuban State has a tendency to stigmatize Otero and Castillo due to their critical profile, we urge the embassies with a presence on the island, the European Union, the UN Special Procedures, the IACHR, and the entire international community to speak out publicly against this clear violation of human rights and promote by all possible means the immediate release of Maykel Castillo Pérez and Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara," the organizations requested through astatement.

The text recalled that both artists, recognized as prisoners of conscience by Amnesty International,They wait in jail for the sentence of a Cuban court, after participating in the trial where the Prosecutor's Office accused them of contempt, defamation and public disorder, with possible sentences of up to 10 years of deprivation of liberty.

"A conviction without evidence against the artists would constitute a clear violation of their exercise of free expression and would confirm the criminalization of their artistic expressions," they stressed.

The signatories of the statement highlighted that Otero Alcántara, founder of the San Isidro Movement, received last October theOxi Courage Award from the Oxi Day Foundation, becoming the second Cuban to receive that distinction.

For his part, Maykel Castillo won two Latin Grammys for the song "Patria y Vida", which became "an anthem for the freedom and dignity of the Cuban people during the massive protests of July 2021"

"The artistic expression and activism of Castillo Pérez and Otero Alcántara made them the object of intense and scrupulous surveillance, which led to their respective arrests in Pinar del Río and the Guanajay maximum security prison, where both are under precautionary measure of provisional detention from May and July 2021 respectively," they recalled.

Finally, the statement demanded that the Cuban government fulfill its international commitments on human rights, drop all charges against both artists and release them.