Maykel Castillo Pérez, better known as “El Osorbo” or Maykel Obsorbo, is a Cuban dissenting rapper born in Havana on August 20, 1983. Coming from humble beginnings and being self-taught, Obsorbo is, along with Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, one of the leaders of the San Isidro Movement (MSI) in Cuba and one of the most significant figures in the struggle that an increasing number of young Cuban activists are fighting against the regime on the island.
In 2015, Maykel was imprisoned for his controversial song "Por ti señor," in which he accuses Fidel Castro of being responsible for the ills and the precarious situation in which the Cuban people find themselves. “Por ti señor is why injustice exists, for you, sir, my people feel sad; you are the one who promised things you did not fulfill.”
On September 25, 2018, after performing a concert at La Madriguera (the headquarters of the Hermanos Saiz Association in Havana) where he, along with other artists, spoke out against Decree 349, Maykel was arrested at his home. In March 2019, he was brought to trial and sentenced to a year and a half in prison (six months longer than the prosecutor's request) for the alleged crime of assaulting a police officer. Maykel was released in December of that same year.
Since that moment, his tireless work as an activist has resulted in a string of arrests, police abuses, and harassment from the State Security forces against his friends and family, and he has personally endured mistreatment and assaults by Cuban police officers.
In August 2020 it made headlines for sewing his mouth shut as a sign of protest against the constant harassment and repression he was subjected to.
On November 18, 2020, he went on a hunger and thirst strike alongside Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara inside the headquarters of the San Isidro Movement, when State Security agents cut off their food supply and confiscated the food and money from the neighbor who was helping them. The writer Katherine Bisquet Rodríguez, Iliana Hernández, activist Esteban Rodríguez, and self-employed worker Osmani Pardo also later joined the strike.
Alcántara and Obsorbo presented a deteriorated state of health. The main demand of the strikers was the release of Denis Solís, also a member of the San Isidro Movement.
In December 2020, Maykel was part of the collaboration between the popular Cuban groups Orishas and Gente de Zona, who recorded the song Ojalá Pase along with him and Funky.https://www.cibercuba.com/noticias/2020-12-23-u1-e186450-s27061-maykel-osorbo-une-orishas-gente-zona-nuevo-tema-musical
Obsorbo and Funky have also joined their voices in songs like “DIAZCARAO,” in which they criticize the management of Cuban president Miguel Díaz-Canel and the entire cabal leading the Cuban government, and in “ De que me van a hablar,” where they call for freedom for Cuba and assert their struggle for democracy and human rights.
His latest song with Funky, "El Aletazo de Alpidio," has been released in response to the events of November 27, when Minister of Culture Alpidio Alonso used violence against the protesters gathered outside the Ministry of Culture to demand the release of several detained artists and activists.
On February 5, 2021, along with Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, after evading the surveillance to which they are subjected in their respective neighborhoods, they arrived at the Capitol in Havana to demand the resignation of the Minister of Culture, Alpidio Alonso.
