Maykel Osorbo: “They’ll Have to Kill Me Looking Straight at Me”

By Carlos Manuel Alvarez (El Estornudo)

HAVANA TIMES – On Thursday, April 18, rapper and political prisoner Maykel Osorbo almost lost the helix of his left ear after being bitten during an attack by four common prisoners, in complicity with penitentiary authorities and Cuban State Security. The assault took place at the Pinar del Río maximum security prison where Osorbo is serving a nine-year sentence for “contempt” and “public disorder.”  

Osorbo is in Section 3 of the prison, a unit housing 64 prisoners, all of whom receive extremely scarce food rations. Of the scant food that arrives there, workers, guards and officers at the prison constantly steal a good part of it. The morning of the assault, the section had received only 28 bread rolls to distribute for breakfast. Several inmates, among them Maykel, began to protest, clamoring that the authorities wanted to starve them to death.

Another prisoner, nicknamed El Bemba, then insulted and provoked Osorbo. According to the rapper, El Bemba already receives certain benefits and an occasional 1,200 peso incentive payments from the authorities to keep an eye on the rest and report any incidents. During and after the incident, Osorbo, who bore the brunt of the attack, remained handcuffed, while his assailants were left free.

In a letter he managed to get out of jail, Osorbo recounted: “A prisoner threw a punch at me and I defended myself. Seeing that he couldn’t take me, he gave me a bite that almost tore my ear off. However, I don’t blame the prisoner, since he is simply a tool in the hands of the regime.” Lieutenant Colonel Yusmani, head of prisons in Pinar del Río, later told him: “Shit, brother, you only managed to bite his ear. If I were you I would have beat the crap out of him – you weigh some 100 kilos (220 pounds).”

Along with Colonel Yusmani, Osorbo places responsibility for the attack on Major Raul Alejandro, an official of the Cuban State Security; on Captain Pedro, head of the Pinar del Rio prison known as “Kilometer 5 and a half,” and Captain Lazaro Castillo, assistant prison warden, who Osorbo says is the mastermind behind these ever more frequent episodes of violence directed against him. Maykel Osorbo, who won two Latin Grammys – Song of the Year and Best Urban Song – for the 2021 protest anthem Patria y Vida, has been declared a “prisoner of conscience” by Amnesty International.

At the beginning of 2023, a surveillance camera was placed in the prison wing where Osorbo is being held. Since then, many of his friends and family members have denounced the constant risks to the musician’s physical integrity. They consider him the victim of an orchestrated program of harassment planned by the prison police and carried out by the common prisoners.

“Once again, I feel victorious, because if they were hoping I’d respond with violence, a smile was my defense. If they were counting on my disrespecting them, on the contrary, complete courtesy defines me,” Maykel told his oppressors in one of the letters denouncing the delicate situation he’s currently experiencing.

He clarifies: “If Captain Lazaro Castillo thought that I believed for a moment in his good will, he was wrong. I’d spent a month explaining how things were going to play out. As you can see, no one listened. Now, if at any time someone thought I was just sucking my thumb and didn’t know what was going on, I believe they made a mistake from start to finish, but no one’s going to kill this black man.”

The first information about Maykel’s fight on April 18 and the state of his health came via another common prisoner, a friend of Osorbo’s, who phoned Vivanny Fuentes, the musician’s wife, and told her what had happened. That same afternoon, Maykel was also allowed to make a phone call that hadn’t been officially scheduled, surely allowed by the jail officials so as to correct the initial reports.

Out of fear of being denied the family visits scheduled for the following day, April 19, and again on the 24th, Osorbo initially downplayed the incident. His true declaration was later made shared on the social networks.

Osorbo’s call from prison

Maykel Osorbo didn’t receive any serious medical attention, even though civilian doctors consulted thought the wound in his ear merited stitches. He was seen by a military doctor who denied he needed treatment, and for four days Osorbo suffered with a bleeding ear.

After the latest visit, the musician was moved to a solitary cell, which will now make it even more difficult for his friends and family to get any kind of information. However, it does allow him some minimal protection in his extremely vulnerable state.

“After the visit, I’m going to an isolation cell, because I can be very brave, but I’m no fool, okay?” Maykel wrote in one of his letters. “First, I’m going to see my children and my wife, and afterwards, with all due respect, I’m going to protect myself. Until things are really resolved, for the moment I’m going to the [solitary] cell, and I don’t believe in the kindness of the Pinar authorities. Until one of the high officials from Havana appears – and I know them all – I’m going to stay there. I don’t know in what state, but there’ll I’ll be.”

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Below are the edited transcripts of the two letters that Maykel Osorbo released to the public – one on April 19^th and the other on April 24^th. In both, in addition to recounting the events, the musician’s profound degree of defenselessness is perceptible, as he fights with all his resources against a repressive apparatus that is threatening his life, while trying to present him to the prison population as just another common prisoner.

Still, Maykel Osorbo has become a symbol of the Cuban political struggle, and he is surviving and confronting the degradation. Below we have transcribed Osorbo’s two letters and also offer a link to the latest audio report he sent.

First letter:

Brothers and sisters, this is how it happened:

A prisoner threw a blow at me and I defended myself. When that prisoner saw he couldn’t get the better of me, out of impotence he bit me. He nearly tore my left ear off. But I don’t blame the prisoner since he’s simply a tool in the regime’s hands.

Yesterday, I sent an audio explaining just the opposite, because today, April 19^th there was a visit, where my family saw the state my ear was left in. [But] that wasn’t the most serious thing. The most serious thing was that I, a political prisoner, was kept handcuffed with my hands behind my back at all times, and the whole time the aggressors were without handcuffs and totally free to move.

Given my condition, I decided to just smile, because I’ve managed to discover that right now my life is constantly in real danger in any jail in the country, and still more so in those of Pinar del Rio where the officials don’t inform their superiors [what’s going on]. My brothers, in this convulsive moment in the world, with respect to the situation of so much war in Europe, yes, I can tell you that the regime, in combination with the Pinar del Rio officials have [attempted] to end my life. And believe me, no prisoner is going to kill me. I’ll have to be killed by a guard. It’s true, I taped an audio report, because [my original] explanation wasn’t coherent, but this is the reality.

Now, draw your own conclusions, but this is the truth. If Captain Lazaro Castillo thought that at any time I believed in his good will, he was wrong. I had spent a month explaining how things were going to come down. As you can see, no one paid any attention. Now, if in some case someone thought that I was sucking my thumb and didn’t know what was going on, I believe they were wrong from start to finish, but no one is going to kill this black man. This black man, right now, after the visit, is going to an isolation cell, because I can be very brave, but I’m no fool, okay? Any security is small, at best, and I don’t feel at all safe here. First, I’m going to see my children and my wife, and later, with all due respect, I’m going to protect myself. Until things are completely solved, I for the moment, am going to the [isolation] cell and I don’t believe in the kindness of the Pinar authorities. Until a high official from Havana comes here – and I know them all – there I’m going to stay. I don’t know in what condition, but there I’ll be, okay?

Maykel Osorbo

P.S. Anyone believing they’re not going to pay for this ear is mistaken. They’re going to pay for it, and it won’t be any of the prisoners, okay? but the authorities who let this happen, and even knowing what had happened kept me handcuffed at all times.

Second letter:

To: Lieutenant Colonel Yusmari, Captain Lazaro Castillo, Captain Pedro…

It’s not necessary to make me see daily that I’m your enemy, since, of course, the events, the procedures and the repressive actions already define that. To me, that’s not the substantial issue. In fact, I don’t care either. I only know that in the eyes of State Security, even wounded, I was kept handcuffed and didn’t receive the medical attention I should. My wound wasn’t sutured when all the civilian doctors said it should be. On the contrary, a military doctor told me no, and, to my misfortune, I spent four days bleeding from the ear.

Look here, once again I feel myself the winner, because if you were expecting me to proceed with violence, a smile was my defense. If you were counting on my disrespect, on the contrary, I was defined by my great courtesy.

Now, as could be expected, someone’s going to pay for that bitten and poorly attended ear, and it won’t be the prisoner that you, Captain Lazaro Castillo, told to attack me. The guilty party isn’t the prisoner, to whom you, captain Lazaro said textually: “Shit, brother, all you did was bite his ear. If I were you, I would have beat the crap out of him – you weigh 220 pounds.”  Yes, that’s right, that’s what you told him. Except that, if he couldn’t get the better of me, much less could you.

Now, in your micro-power, the State gives you the right to commit these excessive violations. But I confess with all do respect that you’re mistaken about me from A to Z. Your prison is no longer safe for me. You’ve succeeded in undermining the authority of the Pinar del Rio security, and those same people have allowed this, but in my case, no. I will always look straight at the prisoner or prisoners you all send [to hurt] me, but I can’t put the blame on them, because quite simply they’re tools in your hands.

You are all to blame right now in the eyes of the world, for participating directly in an assault against a political prisoner. What demonstrates my innocence is the serenity, the poise and the coherence with which I reacted. It wasn’t what you were expecting. Hence, I’m going to an isolation cell until the competent authorities take the necessary measures that you couldn’t, due to the hatred you feel towards me as a person. Okay?

Your prison isn’t safe for me!!!

Maykel Osorbo

Patria y vida  #349