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The Cuban composer and singer-songwriter Descemer Bueno asked this Wednesday to remind Brazilian singer-songwriter Chico Buarque that there is a Latin Grammy winner imprisoned in Cuba, and compared rapper Maykel Osorbo to the independence hero Antonio Maceo: "For me, he is our Antonio Maceo of this era, he is our general in battle."
The statements were made during a live interview with CiberCuba, in which Bueno joined the call that the saxophonist Paquito D'Rivera had made on April 11: "Someone tell Chico Buarque that a Grammy award is imprisoned in Cuba."
"I have a very close relationship with Michael," Descemer stated, using the name he knows Osorbo by. "A guy who doesn't... who instills fear in fear itself, that's why he is in that situation," he added, describing the rapper as someone who does not bow down to the repression of the Cuban regime.
Descemer highlighted the personal connection he maintains with the political prisoner: "A person I always try to be there for when he calls me, when his family calls me."
Both artists are co-authors and performers of "Patria y Vida," the anthem of the protests on July 11, 2021 in Cuba, which won two Latin Grammys on November 18 of that year - Best Song of the Year and Best Urban Song - while Osorbo had already been detained since May 18, 2021.
"This Grammy brought a lot of bitterness, it brought a lot of sadness, but also many joys," acknowledged Descemer about the award that made Osorbo the first Cuban musician to win a Latin Grammy from prison.
Osorbo was sentenced in June 2022 to nine years in prison. In January 2026, he was arbitrarily transferred to Kilo 8 prison in Pinar del Río, where he remains without medication or adequate shelter.
Descemer expanded the call beyond Buarque: "And yes, we must remind Chico Buarque, we must remind the supreme pontiff who is now in our church," referring to the newly elected pope.
He also criticized the Brazilian singer-songwriter and the Dominican friar Frei Beto for their complicit silence: "In the case of Chico Buarque and all these people like Frei Beto, I believe they need to see a reality of Cuba that they are viewing from a great distance."
Alongside Osorbo, Descemer mentioned another prominent political prisoner: "We also have Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, who may not have a Grammy, but he has many awards and recognitions." Otero Alcántara, founder of the San Isidro Movement, remains imprisoned in Guanajay despite the fact that the organization Cubalex considers his five-year sentence to have been extinguished since March 2026.
"It's a great shame that Michael and the many political prisoners, prisoners of conscience, are going through this moment," lamented the singer-songwriter.
Descemer also criticized Silvio Rodríguez, calling it "shameful" that the leading figure of Cuban trova received an AKM rifle at an official event of the Ministry of the Armed Forces presided over by Díaz-Canel on March 20, 2026, while Osorbo remains imprisoned for singing.
The comparison between Osorbo and the Afro-Cuban general known as the "Bronze Titan" who fought against Spanish colonialism has an explicit dimension: both are Afro-Cubans who challenged the established power without backing down.
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