International organizations and colleagues of Cuban rapper Maykel Osorbo have wanted to remember his third year in prison, accused by the regime of assault, resistance, and contempt.
The organization Amnesty International for the Americas recalled that they continue to demand from the government of Díaz-Canel the immediate and unconditional release of Osorbo, who was detained in 2021.
Eliexer Márquez Duany, better known as El Funky, who was arrested by Cuban authorities on the same day as Osorbo and released days later, remembered his fellow activist with an extensive post on Instagram.
"His crime was telling the truth about his life, his people, and singing those truths," El Funky said when reminiscing about what happened three years ago.
He remembered that "on May 18, 2021, Maykel Castillo (Osorbo) was taken from his home in Old Havana without a shirt and shoes," and accompanied his words with several photos.
He mentioned that "in prison, Maykel has been subjected to all kinds of violence, but violence has been a known part of his life. What the henchmen want is for Maykel to return to it, but from the day he learned what freedom is about, Maykel promised that he would make it the central focus of his life."
Maykel was detained by State Security officers and police who came to his house to arrest him while he was having lunch and took him away without even allowing him to get dressed.
That day, Osorbo woke up with twice as much surveillance as the Cuban government had imposed on him in previous days.
"We knew it would be like this after the news came out that Luis Manuel is planted in Calixto García. But they are not satisfied with Luis, nor with Esteban, and all the others who are already imprisoned. They have also taken Maykel now," friends of the rapper indicated.
In June 2022, he was sentenced to nine and five years in prison, respectively, along with Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara.
Both were sanctioned for alleged acts of outrage to the symbols of the country, contempt, defamation of institutions and organizations, heroes, and martyrs, assault, resistance, and public disorder, stated a press release from the General Prosecutor's Office of the Republic of Cuba.
From prison, he has reported the regime's maneuvers to physically and psychologically destabilize him.
Recently, Osorbo was brutally beaten in prison to the point where he almost lost an ear.
During the last visit of his family members, including his wife Vivianny Fuentes, Osorbo recounted what happened and handed over a letter and the handkerchief he used to try to stop the bleeding from his ear on the day of the attack.
It was during breakfast time on April 18th when other prisoners were protesting about the food shortage in the prison after running out of bread, that the aggression occurred.
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