From a high-security underground cell in Oklahoma, Cuban rapper Chocolate MC wrote a handwritten letter on June 19 addressed to his deceased colleague El Taiger, a poignant document that he posted on his Instagram account this Friday, blending themes of forgiveness, denunciation, and a promise to keep fighting.
The letter, written at 6:36 PM, is addressed to José Manuel Carbajal Zaldívar —artistically known as El Taiger and referred to by his followers as "LBMA," La Bestia Más Animal— who was murdered in Miami on October 3, 2024, and passed away a week later at Jackson Memorial Hospital at the age of 37.
Chocolate MC, whose real name is Yosvani Sierra Hernández, describes his confinement as follows: "Here I am very close to You, for although I am still alive, I am also under the Earth, in a maximum-security underground prison in Oklahoma, in the box, where the cells resemble vaults, the beds do too, and the dead prisoners."
The artist explains that he is imprisoned for having attempted to pressure the Miami-Dade Police Department and the prosecutor's office to impose the death penalty on the accused of the crime, Damián Valdez Galloso: "Here I am, my brother, for seeking justice for you... and look, the one they are treating like a murderer is me."
Sentenced in March 2026 to 10 years in prison plus five years of probation following a judicial agreement that resolved three cases—instigation to murder, kidnapping of a fan, and robbery in a hotel—Chocolate MC was found guilty in November 2025 of offering $20,000 to anyone who killed Valdez Galloso.
In the letter, he highlights the disparity between the two processes: “They haven’t even held the trial for the other unfortunate soul, and mine was completed in less than 6 months, and I was given 15 years.”
It also accuses the Miami-Dade Prosecutor's Office of ignoring the most gruesome details of the crime: that the accused left El Taiger bleeding for over an hour, "got into another car, cleaned up the blood, changed clothes, and went to hide in New York."
One of the toughest passages in the letter is the self-criticism: "Forgive me, I apologize for not having given you all that love back in life, for not realizing that you had been suffering for a long time just like I was, that you felt alone like I did, and because instead of supporting you, I was one of the ones who attacked you the most."
Chocolate MC also laments the neglect that, according to him, the memory of El Taiger is subjected to: "those artists who claimed to be your heirs, who said they would be LBMA forever, no longer mention you, and some are even involved with your women."
At one point in the letter, he reflects on the passivity of the Cuban community in the face of the lack of justice: "Unfortunately, Cubans are used to seeing one Cuban kill another and nothing happens; the indoctrination by those Castroite dictators has harmed us greatly."
This is the second public letter known from the artist while in prison. The first one, dated June 15, was addressed to his sister Isis Sierra and described the inhumane conditions of his cell. On June 22, El Taiger's grandmother, Magda Nidia Reyes Macías, passed away without having seen justice for her grandson.
The trial against Damián Valdez Galloso, who pleaded not guilty and faces mandatory life imprisonment, is scheduled for July 7, 2026, although it has been postponed multiple times since 2024. Chocolate MC concludes his letter with a promise: "my conscience weighed so much that I risked even my freedom to do something for you... and if they give me 15 more years for continuing to seek justice, I would do it again."
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