Cuban Dissident Rapper Maykel Osorbo Removed From Prison, Whereabouts Unknown

Cuban rapper and dissident Maykel Castillo Pérez, known as 'Osorbo,' has been removed from the prison where he was serving a nine-year sentence, according to activist Anamely Ramos. Ramos stated that Castillo was taken from Kilo 8 prison in Pinar del Río, where he had been transferred in January, and his current location is unknown.

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We have learned, through a voice of solidarity, that Maykel Castillo was taken out of the Kilo 8 prison today, in Pinar del Río, where he had been transferred since January of this year.

"They simply arrived at his cell and told him to collect all his belongings and took him away," Ramos wrote on Facebook. She expressed concern, noting that "We don't know where or why. If it's a transfer to another jail, his family should have been officially notified, but that didn't happen, as it never does."

Castillo, a co-founder of the San Isidro movement, was arrested in May 2021. In June 2022, he was sentenced to nine years for charges including contempt, assault, public disorder, and defamation. International human rights organizations, including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, have criticized his sentence.

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They simply arrived at his cell and told him to collect all his belongings and took him away.

The removal of 'Osorbo' from prison comes just days after Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, another prominent dissident and co-founder of the San Isidro movement, was also moved from Guanajay prison. Otero Alcántara has since communicated that he is "well," according to Ramos.

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We don't know where or why. If it's a transfer to another jail, his family should have been officially notified, but that didn't happen, as it never does.