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The Cuban rapper and political prisoner Maykel Castillo Pérez, known as "Osorbo," was removed this Friday from the maximum-security prison Kilo 8 in Pinar del Río, without his family being notified and with no knowledge of his current whereabouts, according to activist Anamely Ramos's post on Facebook.
"We have learned, through a supportive voice, that Maykel Castillo was taken today from Kilo 8 prison in Pinar del Río, where he had been transferred since January of this year. They simply arrived at his cell and told him to gather all his belongings, and they took him away. We do not know where or why," wrote Ramos, who ended his post with a direct question: "Where is Maykel Osorbo?"
The activist pointed out that, if it were a routine transfer between prisons, the family should have received official notification, which did not happen, "as is never the case."
Osorbo had been transferred to Kilo 8 at the end of January 2026, accused by the prison authorities of planning a riot.
That prison, one of the most remote and harshest in the Cuban penitentiary system, was the last known location of his detention.
The rapper is serving a sentence of nine years imposed in June 2022 for contempt, assault, public disorder, and defamation of institutions, after being arrested on May 18, 2021.
In May 2026, recordings obtained by USA Today revealed that the regime offered him an ultimatum in April: to go into exile or remain imprisoned until 2030. Osorbo accepted the exile, but was not released.
What happened this Friday follows a pattern almost identical to that experienced three days earlier with Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, taken from the prison in Guanajay on July 7 in a strong operation, also without notification to his family and with an unknown whereabouts for days.
In the case of Otero Alcántara, State Security contacted Anamely Ramos from an unknown number and with the call on speakerphone to inquire about the humanitarian parole process toward the United States that his circle is managing.
Otero said he is "fine" but could not disclose his location.
The pattern suggests that the regime aims to manage the exile of these high-profile artists without formally releasing them within Cuba, a practice already employed with other opponents.
The situation of Osorbo has garnered multiple international statements. On June 23, 2026, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights declared that Cuba disappeared him, detained him arbitrarily, and sentenced him without guarantees, demanding the annulment of his sentence.
Amnesty International recognizes him as a prisoner of conscience, and the UN ruled in February 2022 that he is imprisoned solely for his activism.
Co-author of "Patria y Vida," the anthem of the Cuban democratic resistance, Osorbo is the first artist to win two Latin Grammys while imprisoned, an award he received in November 2021.
This Friday, while their whereabouts remain unconfirmed, Prisoners Defenders reported in June 2026 a record of 1,281 political prisoners on the island, a figure that places Osorbo's disappearance within a systematic repression that shows no signs of subsiding.
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