Maykel Castillo Pérez, better known as "El Osorbo" or Maykel Obsorbo, is a dissident Cuban rapper born in Havana on August 20, 1983. From humble origins 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 increasingly young Cuban activists are waging against the island's regime.
In 2015, Maykel was imprisoned for his controversial song "Por ti señor," in which he blames Fidel Castro 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 never fulfilled."
On September 25, 2018, after performing a concert at La Madriguera (the headquarters of the Hermanos Saiz Association in Havana), where he joined other artists in speaking 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 the same year.
Since that moment, his tireless work as an activist has resulted in a string of arrests, police abuse, and harassment directed at his friends and family, and he has personally endured mistreatment and assaults by the Cuban police.
In August 2020, he made headlines for sewing his mouth shut as a sign of protest against the constant harassment and repression he was enduring.
On November 18, 2020, he went on a hunger and thirst strike alongside Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara at 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, the activist Esteban Rodríguez, and the self-employed worker Osmani Pardo also joined the strike later on.
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 Movimiento San Isidro.
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 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 such as “DIAZCARAO,” where 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,” where they demand freedom for Cuba and advocate for their struggle 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 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 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.
