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Five days after the secret meeting between delegations from the United States and Cuba held on April 10 in Havana, two State Security agents visited Maykel «Osorbo» Castillo Pérez in the maximum-security prison Kilo 8, in Pinar del Río, and presented him with an ultimatum: to go into exile or remain imprisoned until 2030, according to audio recordings obtained by .
The next day, the same agents repeated the offer to Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara at the prison in Guanajay, southwest of Havana.
Both artists accepted exile. However, the two-week deadline that Washington had imposed on Havana expired without either being released, and today, May 13, 2026, both remain incarcerated.
"The security agents came here and asked me, in these exact words: 'Either you want to emigrate —tell me if you want to emigrate— or you want to stay in the same situation you are in now, imprisoned until 2030,'" Osorbo recounted in one of the recordings.
The 42-year-old rapper said he had accepted to emigrate in exchange for his freedom, but warned that the regime could change its stance at any moment.
The tactic is not new. The regime already attempted to exile Otero and Osorbo in October 2021, an offer that both publicly rejected at that time.
Osorbo and Otero are co-founders of the San Isidro Movement, a collective of artists and writers from the humble neighborhood of the same name, located by the port of Havana.
The rapper was a co-author of "Patria y Vida," a song that surpassed one million views on YouTube, became the anthem of the protests on July 11 of that year, and won two Latin Grammys: Song of the Year and Best Urban Song.
The visual artist was included among the 100 most influential people in the world in 2021 by Time Magazine and has been awarded multiple international prizes, such as the Rafto Human Rights Award in Norway, the Prince Claus Impact Award in the Netherlands, and the Václav Havel 2025, for his outstanding artistic struggle against repression.
Osorbo was arrested on May 18, 2021, and sentenced to nine years in prison on charges of contempt and defamation. Otero was detained on July 11, 2021, and sentenced to five years. Amnesty International recognizes both as prisoners of conscience.
The dilemma of "exile or imprisonment" has extended to other political prisoners. The auxiliary bishop of Havana, Eloy Ricardo Domínguez, visited Félix Navarro, 72 years old, and his daughter Saylí Navarro, 39, with the same proposal mediated by the Catholic Church. Both categorically rejected it.
From his cell in Guanajay, Otero also revealed that he has been deprived of basic rights granted to other inmates, such as sentence reductions and home visits. After receiving death threats from State Security agents, he went on a hunger strike that lasted eight days and ended on April 6.
Anamely Ramos, a close friend of both artists, bluntly summarized the situation: "The underlying problem remains unresolved. The criminalization of individuals continues."
According to Prisoners Defenders, Cuba currently has over 1,250 political prisoners, a record number. Otero is scheduled to be released in July 2026, unless an agreement is reached beforehand. From his cell, he has stated that he will not leave without the thousands of paintings he has accumulated in five years of imprisonment: he would prefer to die inside.
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