The Cuban intellectual and activist Anamely Ramos demanded on Wednesday a phone call from the political prisoner Maykel "Osorbo" Castillo Pérez to prove that, as the prison authorities told the rapper's family of "Patria y Vida", he has already ended the hunger strike he initiated to protest his transfer to a prison in the interior of the country.
This confirmation differs from the information that the political police provided to Osorbo's family, denying that he was being held in the 5 and a half prison in Pinar del Río, over 150 kilometers from Havana, his home province.
This is the reason why Anamely Ramos, who, along with Osorbo, participated in the San Isidro hunger strike, demands to speak with the political prisoner who was sentenced in May 2022 to nine years in prison, of which he has only served four. He was incarcerated for "affecting the honor and dignity of the highest authorities of the country" by digitally manipulating images that he made public on social media and for live-streaming from his Facebook profile "to dishonor the role of law enforcement agents in society."
"Michael is on a hunger strike until confirmed otherwise. And when I say confirmed otherwise, I'm talking about him calling me or calling his family in Cuba, or us getting news from a reliable source that he has actually ended the strike," emphasized Anamely Ramos in an interview with CiberCuba.
According to his explanation, this Tuesday, Michael's father and a close friend of the political prisoner went to the 5 y medio prison to inquire about him. The last they had heard, on Friday, June 20, was that he was indeed on a hunger strike because he did not want to be transferred to an eastern province, which was the threat he was facing.
"When they arrived at the prison, they spent many hours waiting. They got there very early. It's quite far, over 150 kilometers from Havana to Pinar del Río. Once they arrived, they waited for many hours to be seen, and this did not happen until I posted the pictures of them at the entrance of the prison, stating that they needed to meet with the highest authorities to get a clear response regarding Maykel's health situation. Finally, they were attended to, and the prison authorities' narrative is that Maykel has stopped the hunger strike. The incredible part is that they acknowledge that Maykel was on a hunger strike, which is a different version from what State Security had been telling Maykel's father. Until that moment, they had been saying no, that he had never been on a hunger strike," emphasizes Anamely Ramos.
The political police of the Cuban regime acknowledged that Maykel Osorbo was indeed in disciplinary detention, but not on hunger strike, claiming that when he was released from that punishment, he would be allowed to make phone calls and that everything would return to normal, that he would be transferred back to his usual company, to his regular cell, and that he would not be moved. "This version contradicts the prison's account, which states that he was indeed on hunger strike, but that he has since ended it," adds the activist.
"I really can't believe it, at least I can't believe that neither the State Security nor the prison authorities are saying anything, and that's why what I'm saying is that Maykel needs to call. We know that when he's in solitary confinement, they don't allow calls, but at other times they have done so and they can do it, and the justification for not doing it cannot be any act of indiscipline," he insisted.
At the time of writing this information, Maykel Osorbo has not contacted Anamely Ramos, and she assumes that if he does not achieve his goal of not being transferred to an eastern prison, today he would be completing his eighth day of hunger strike, putting his life in danger, as the state of starvation adds to a health condition that has deteriorated in prison.
"It cannot be said that he has committed an indiscipline; neither can we appeal to the regulations or anything like that because the reality is that Maykel is unjustly imprisoned, for no good reason, and after that, well, everything that happens inside the prison is their responsibility, and Maykel's life is their responsibility."
Filed under:
