On August 20, Maykel “El Osorbo” Castillo celebrated his 41st birthday as a prisoner of conscience of the communist Castro dictatorship, his third consecutive birthday in the Cuban gulag.
Via the Center for a FREE Cuba:
Cuban artist and prisoner of conscience Maykel Castillo Pérez Osorbo turned 41 years old in a Cuban prison today
Imagine for a moment spending 36 months behind bars for exercising a fundamental human right, 1,095 days unjustly imprisoned and not provided adequate healthcare, and 26,280 hours to reflect on this outrage while separated from you family, and loved ones. Please engage in an exercise in empathy. Take out your watch or cell phone and sit in silence for one minute as time passes, and imagine that minute multiplied 1,576,800 times.
This is what Maykel Castillo Pérez Osorbo has been subjected to in Pinar del Rio at the Kilo 5 y Medio prison, together with over one thousand one hundred other Cubans jailed across the island.
Maykel Castillo Pérez Osorbo is an artist, husband, father, and an Amnesty International prisoner of conscience who today marked his 41st birthday behind bars, and on May 18, 2024 marked three years in prison for exercising his fundamental rights. His daughter, Jade Castillo Hernández is nine years old. He is a two-time Latin Grammy winner, and co-author of the protest anthem Patria y Vida. Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart observed the birthday of this imprisoned Cuban rapper and human rights defender over social media.
Freedom House observed Maykel’s birthday today over social media and called for his immediate, and unconditional release. Prisoners Defenders prepared the above video that documents what he has been subjected to, and his life prior to his current incarceration, and posted it over Twitter. Amnesty International prepared a short video in Spanish on Twitter also highlighting his case, and calling for Maykel’s immediate and unconditional release.
Continue reading HERE.
Oh, the usual suspects cannot forget him, since as far as they’re concerned he doesn’t exist.