Maykel Castillo Pérez, better known as "El Osorbo" or Maykel Obsorbo, is a Cuban rapper born in Havana on August 20, 1983. From a humble background and 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 prominent faces in the struggle that an increasing number of young Cuban activists are waging 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, por ti señor my people feel sad, you were the one who promised things that you did not fulfill."
On September 25, 2018, after performing a concert at La Madriguera (headquarters of the Hermanos Saiz Association in Havana), where he spoke out against Decree 349 alongside other artists, 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 more than what the prosecution had requested) 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 directed at his friends and family, and he has personally endured mistreatment and assaults by Cuban police officers.
In August 2020, he 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 began 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 took the food and money from the neighbor who was assisting them. The writer Katherine Bisquet Rodríguez, Iliana Hernández, the activist Esteban Rodríguez, and the self-employed worker Osmani Pardo later joined the strike as well.
Alcántara and Obsorbo presented a deteriorated state of health. The main demand of the protesters 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 clique leading the Cuban government, and in "What are they going to talk to me about,” in which they call for freedom for Cuba and highlight their fight for democracy and human rights.
His latest song with Funky, "El Aletazo de Alpidio," was released in response to the events of November 27, when Culture Minister Alpidio Alonso used violence against demonstrators gathered outside the Ministry of Culture to demand the release of several detained artists and activists.
On February 5, 2021, together with Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, after evading the surveillance they are subjected to in their respective neighborhoods, they arrived at the Capitol in Havana to demand the resignation of the Minister of Culture, Alpidio Alonso.
