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The Cuban rapper Andrés Matos Alcántara, artistically known as MC K-LIBRE, has been detained since Thursday, June 25, after attending what authorities described as a simple interview at the police unit in Siboney, in the Playa municipality of Havana, according to his wife’s report to Martí Noticias.
The regime accuses him of an alleged crime of public disorder, linking him to the cacerolazos and protests that shook the Barbosa neighborhood during the night of June 18 to 19, triggered by blackouts lasting more than 30 continuous hours.
His wife, Ariacna Garcés Gómez, recounted that Matos was summoned on Wednesday, June 25, for a supposed interview, but when he showed up the next day, he was immediately handcuffed and taken away in a patrol car, without any legal documents being provided.
"They did not present any arrest or search warrant. What they did was handcuff him and put him in a patrol car," Garcés stated.
The authorities first transferred him to the unit at 3rd and 110, and then, as they informed him that same night, to the Fifth Police Unit. When the wife went to the location on Friday, she was initially told that the detainee was not listed among their records.
"They say that Matos is the leader of all the protests and noise demonstrations happening here in Barbosa," Garcés pointed out, categorically rejecting that account.
According to his testimony, both of them passed by the site of the protests on Avenida 25 on their way home and stayed for only about 20 to 30 minutes. "There were people shouting freedom and burning objects in the street. We were there for about 20 or 30 minutes, but we didn’t throw any stones or hit anyone," he stated.
They withdrew before the arrival of the police trucks because the smoke posed a direct health risk to the musician, who is 39 years old and suffers from Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and type 1 diabetes.
"Matos is a sick man. When he suffers a respiratory crisis, he depends on oxygen and needs to take metformin daily," explained his wife, who also recalled that the artist suffered fractures in several ribs during a severe COPD crisis: "He lost consciousness in the bathroom and fractured his ribs when he hit the wall. It is a situation that still affects him."
At first, the authorities refused to accept their medications due to the absence of the medical card. Only after presenting the appropriate documentation were they able to provide metformin and a salbutamol inhaler.
The NGO Cubalex issued an urgent alert describing the situation as a "possible short-term forced disappearance", while rapper Eliécer Márquez Duany, known as El Funky and performer of Patria y Vida, reported the arrest on social media using the hashtags #SOSCuba, #FreeMatos, and #LibertadParaLosPresosPolíticos.
"The regime is trying to charge him with a false crime of public disorder," wrote El Funky.
The coordinator of the Cuban Youth Dialogue Table, Kirenia Yalit Núñez Pérez, warned that there is an intention to fabricate a legal case against him and emphasized the symbolic weight of the artist: "For me, he is one of the strongest representatives Cuba has in rap against the dictatorship. He is a young man whose music is reaching and being heard by other young people within the country, and we are sure that this is precisely why they are trying to prosecute him."
The protests in Barbosa are part of a wave of conflicts that reached record numbers in May 2026, when the Cuban Observatory of Conflicts recorded 1,311 protests, complaints, and critical expressions in just one month. As of the time of this report, the Cuban authorities had not filed formal charges nor officially informed about the artist's legal situation.
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