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The rapper and political prisoner from Cuba Maykel «Osorbo» Castillo was transferred this Friday from Kilo 8 prison in Pinar del Río to the maximum security prison in Guanajay, in the province of Artemisa, as confirmed by activist Anamely Ramos after receiving a call from the artist himself.
«Maykel has already called. They took him to the maximum security prison in Guanajay. They are macabre,» Ramos wrote on his Facebook profile, accompanying the message with the hashtag #freeMaykelOsorbo.
The transfer occurred without Osorbo's family being notified in advance about the change of prison or his new location, a practice that activists and human rights organizations have denounced as part of the pattern of isolation to which the regime subjects political prisoners.
Guanajay is classified as a maximum-security prison within the Cuban penitentiary system.
According to a report from Prisoners Defenders published in May 2026, that prison has been a documented site of torture, sexual assaults, death threats, and the use of common inmates as a retaliatory mechanism against political prisoners.
The move to Guanajay represents a worsening of the detention conditions for Osorbo, who was taken out of Kilo 8 prison this Friday under circumstances that kept his whereabouts uncertain for hours. Activists point out that this is the fourth consecutive episode of isolation that the artist is subjected to.
Osorbo is serving a sentence of nine years imposed in June 2022 for charges of assault, resistance, contempt, and public disorder, related to his participation in the protests of July 11, 2021.
He was arrested on May 18, 2021, just days before the massive protests that shook the Island.
The transfer takes place during a week that is particularly tense for the political prisoners of the Movimiento San Isidro.
His companion Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara was taken from the very prison of Guanajay on July 7, when his five-year sentence was set to expire, and he also remained missing for days, which led to a public demand from Amnesty International to determine his whereabouts.
Amnesty International recognizes Osorbo as a prisoner of conscience and demands his immediate release.
In May 2026, State Security agents offered the rapper the option to either go into exile or remain imprisoned until 2030; he accepted exile, but the regime did not comply.
In June 2026, Osorbo received the 2026 Democracy Award along with Otero Alcántara and fellow political prisoner Félix Navarro, an international recognition that stands in stark contrast to the treatment that the Cuban regime has given to the three from their cells.
The transfer to Guanajay —the same prison from which Otero Alcántara has just been released under equally opaque circumstances— is seen by activists as an additional punitive measure, in a country where Prisoners Defenders documented a record of 1,260 political prisoners in May 2026.
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