Maykel Osorbo

Maykel Castillo Pérez, better known as “El Osorbo” or Maykel Obsorbo, is a Cuban protest 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 prominent figures in the ongoing struggle against the regime by an increasingly younger generation of Cuban activists.

In 2015, Maykel was imprisoned for his controversial song "Por ti señor," in which he blames Fidel Castro for the ills and the dire 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 (the headquarters of the Hermanos Saiz Association in Havana), where he and other artists spoke out against Decree 349, Maykel was arrested at his home. In March 2019, he was brought to trial and sentenced to one and a half years in prison (six months longer than the prosecutor's request) for the alleged offense of assaulting a police officer. Maykel was released in December of that same year.

Since that moment, her tireless work as an activist has resulted in a string of detentions, police abuses, and harassment directed at her friends and family by State Security. She has personally endured mistreatment and assaults from Cuban police agents.

In August 2020, he made headlines for sewing his mouth shut in protest against the constant harassment and repression he was enduring.

On November 18, 2020, he began a hunger and thirst strike alongside Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara at the headquarters of the San Isidro Movement, after State Security agents cut off their food supply and confiscated the food and money from the neighbor who was assisting them. Later, writer Katherine Bisquet Rodríguez, Iliana Hernández, activist Esteban Rodríguez, and self-employed worker Osmani Pardo also joined the strike.

Alcántara and Obsorbo exhibited a deteriorated state of health. The main demand of the hunger 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" alongside him and Funky.

Obsorbo and el Funky have also joined their voices on tracks like "DIAZCARAO," which criticizes the management of Cuban president Miguel Díaz-Canel and the entire clique leading the Cuban government, and "De que me van a hablar," where they call for freedom for Cuba and advocate for their struggle for democracy and human rights.

His latest song featuring 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 protesters who gathered in front of 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 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.