Cuban rapper Denis Solís, a political express, asked this Monday on social networks that “the cry of freedom” not be lowered by the artist Luis Manuel Otero , the musician Maykel Castillo (Maykel Osorbo) , the journalist Esteban Rodríguez and the activist Luis Robles , all in deprivation of liberty.
Solís, who has been residing in Serbia since the end of 2021 , is one of the key figures in the history of Cuban dissident activism of the last two years in the island. His imprisonment and sentence to eight months in prison , for verbally challenging a policeman who entered his home without a warrant to do so, triggered the garrisoning of several intellectuals and activists for several days at the headquarters of the San Isidro Movement (MSI), in November 2020 .
This event meant a certain dynamization of Cuban civil society, inside and outside of Cuba, and served as inspiration, to some extent, to the Patria y Vida, which was the soundtrack of the social outbreak of July 11 and in November 2021 it received two Latin Grammy Awards; While one of its authors and interpreters, rapper Maykel Castillo, is in a maximum security prison and with symptoms of a serious illness, still undiagnosed.
“It is necessary to keep the clamor for them and all the political prisoners, without pause. These warriors in the history of Cuba, more than honor , they deserve support and effectiveness from all international organizations. Because now they suffer torture within those dungeons of Castro-communist socialism, “he said on his personal profile on Facebook.
Of the four young people mentioned by Solís, all black skinned or mixed race, the one who has been behind bars the longest is Robles, 29 years old , since he was arrested in December 2020 for peacefully demonstrating on the Boulevard de San Rafael , in Old Havana, with a poster demanding freedom, an end to the repression and the release of Denis Solís, who was then in prison.
He is currently in the prison known as Combinado del Este, accused of the alleged crimes of “enemy propaganda” and “resistance”, and the prosecution asked in his judgment a joint sentence of six years of deprivation of liberty. From prison, has denounced that he has been subjected to cruel and degrading treatment : he has been placed in a punishment cell at least five times, he has been left without food for three days, chained his hands and feet and forced to stand on the chains for hours.
The other three young people, members of the MSI, have suffered a similar fate. Esteban Rodríguez, a collaborator of ADN Cuba, was arrested in a peaceful demonstration on April 30, 2021, in solidarity with the artist Luis Manuel Otero, who was then on a hunger strike and under a police fence at his home, and accused of “Disruption of public order.”
Then, on May 18, the arrest of Maykel Osorbo occurred. Currently, his state of health, largely affected by the violence to which he has been a victim by the regime and the hunger strikes he has carried out as protests, is seriously deteriorating. In November, a statement from the researcher and activist Anamely Ramos explained that she had problems with the lymphatic system . He is charged with the alleged crimes of attack, public disorder and “evasion of prisoners or detainees.”
Luis Manuel Otero was the last to be jailed, on July 11, the day of the anti-government protests, when he tried to join them in Havana he has been placed in a maximum security prison, like Castillo. He is accused of aggravated contempt, public disorder, instigation to commit a crime and outrage against national symbols. The latter, due to a performance with the Cuban flag.
In Cuba, 2022 began with more than 800 people imprisoned for political reasons, most of them, for having participated in the July demonstrations .
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