Maykel Castillo Pérez, better known as “El Osorbo” or Maykel Obsorbo, is a confrontational Cuban rapper born in Havana on August 20, 1983. From humble beginnings and self-taught, Obsorbo is one of the leaders of the San Isidro Movement (MSI) in Cuba, alongside Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, 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 you didn’t fulfill."
On September 25, 2018, after performing a concert at La Madriguera (headquarters of the Asociación Hermanos Saiz in Havana), where he, along with other artists, spoke out against Decree 349, Maykel was arrested at his home. In March 2019, he was put on trial and sentenced to a year and a half in prison (six months longer than the prosecutor's request), under the alleged charge 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 series of arrests, police abuses, and harassment directed at his friends and family. He has personally endured mistreatment and assaults from Cuban police officers.
In August 2020 he made headlines for sewing his lips shut as a sign of protest against the constant harassment and repression he was facing.
On November 18, 2020, he went on a hunger and thirst strike along with Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara inside the headquarters of the San Isidro Movement, when State Security agents cut off their access to food and took away the supplies and money from the neighbor who was helping them. Later, writer Katherine Bisquet Rodríguez, Iliana Hernández, activist Esteban Rodríguez, and self-employed worker Osmani Pardo also 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 a collaboration between the popular Cuban groups Orishas and Gente de Zona, who recorded the song "Ojalá Pase" together 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,” where they criticize the management of Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel and the entire clique leading the Cuban government, and in “De que me van hablar,” in which they call for freedom for Cuba and advocate for 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 the Minister of Culture, Alpidio Alonso, used violence against the protesters gathered in front of the Ministry of Culture to demand the release of several detained artists and activists.
On February 5, 2021, alongside 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.
