They emit alarm to Maykel Osorbo transfer to punishment cell

The Cultural Rights Observatory issued an alarm this Saturday before the transfer of the Cuban musician and political prisoner Maykel Castillo Pérez, «El Osorbo», to a punishment cell in the KM 5 and a half prison, in Pinar del Río.

«The information we have is still incomplete, but we know that after the family visit, Maykel Osorbo was subjected to isolation,» the organization said in a message on its social networks.

The Observatory called for solidarity to amplify the denunciation of penitentiary abuse, underlining that intraccessal violence, epidemiological and malnutrition risk, among other flagella that put at risk the life of inmates in the prisons of the island, intensify when it is treated, as in the case of the bear, of political prisoners.

The complaint of the artist’s transfer to the isolation regime was made on Friday the art curator and activist Anamely Ramos, who closely follows his case.

«Today we received news that Maykel Castillo (Osorbo) was taken to punishment cell after he had an argument with state security agents in prison of 5 and a half. Everything happened while Maykel’s visit of the month passed,» he said Friday on Facebook.

In recent months, Ramos has warned of the increase in provocations by prison officials to the political prisoner. «The siege is closing around Maykel,» he warned in the post.

«I want Maykel out of that cell without the slightest damage. Even the hairs of the head in the same place,» said Ramos, who fears that the artist will be planted, «demanding respect for his rights.»

In an update this Sunday, the musician’s activist and friend warned that the information that is coming about the situation of the Osorbo are contradictory.

«While from within the prison he continues to get the alarm that Maykel is not only in punishment cell, but is also planted, the state security sends orders to his family that everything is fine, that Maykel is only will be punished for 15 days for the indiscipline he committed,» he said in a post on his Facebook account.

Ramos pointed out that part of the drama that political prisoners and their relatives live in Cuba is «not knowing», a reality that causes the repressive system prevailing to «confuse and demobilize.»

The Cultural Rights Observatory, on the other hand, told the Ministry of Interior (Minint) as responsible for the survival of the criminal population, especially of political and conscientious prisoners, which are the subject of permanent harassment of the security of the Cuban State.

Castillo Pérez was sentenced in 2022 to 9 years in jail, accused of the alleged positions of contempt, attack, public disorders and defamation. The trial, in which the artist and leader of the San Isidro Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara movement was also convicted, was questioned by international organizations as a process «plagued by irregularities and with lack of guarantees.»

Months before the conviction, in 2021, the singer and composer had been awarded with other artists with the Latin Grammy for the song «Homeland and life», which became a hymn of resistance of the Cubans.