A friend said that Maykel Osorbo, the producer of the anti-communist song “Patria y Vida”, has been in jail for two weeks.

A Cuban dissident rapper who co-wrote a viral song condemning Communist government Having been in jail for two weeks, a friend said Thursday after allowing the singer to make his first call.

Maykel Osorbo’s friend Camila Lobon told AFP via WhatsApp that Maykel Osorbo, who co-produced the single “Patria y Vida” (“Fatherland and Life”), was accused of “resistance” and “contempt”.

She said that the 37-year-old artist “was able to call if he couldn’t call after 14 days and told us” where he is.

The U.S. Embassy in Cuba Reposted a message from the Director of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Samantha Power, criticizing Osorbo’s detention “and many Other artists Who dares to demand human rights.

“They must end this unfortunate attempt to silence free thought and debate,” she said.

.@PowerUSAID: It is encouraging to hear the news of liberation @LMOAcantaraBut the government continued to imprison Maykel Castillo and other artists who dared to demand human rights. They must put an end to this evil attempt to suppress the freedom of thought and debate. https://t.co/k0Aw9g2SNy

-U.S. Embassy in Cuba (@USEmbCuba) June 3, 2021

Documents show that the United States Agency for International Development faced criticism in 2014 when an Associated Press investigation found that the agency used Cuban rappers to “break the information blockade” and build a network of young people seeking “social change.”

But the Associated Press stated that the operation was amateur and very unsuccessful. I don’t know if Osorbo is involved. Many artists don’t know anything about surgery.

The pro-government website Cubadebate quoted a source from the Ministry of the Interior as saying that Osobo was temporarily detained, “accused of assaults, disrupting public order, and the escape of prisoners or detainees. He committed these crimes on April 4, 2021. offense”.

On that day, residents of the San Isidro neighbourhood where Osobo lived gathered on his street to prevent the police from arresting him on his way to go shopping.

Images of the event were transmitted in real time via Facebook, showing people Osorbo and Dissident Artists Together Luis Manuel Otero Alcantara sang “Patria y Vida” and chanted anti-government slogans, which is rare in this one-party country.

During the Los Gallos del Rap finals in Havana, Cuba in 2019, crowds crowded with Circo Trompo Loco circus tents [File: Ismael Francisco/AP Photo]

Osorbo was arrested and ordered to be detained on May 18. According to Cuba Debet, he was transferred to Binal del Río prison 160 kilometers (99 miles) west of Havana on May 31 and claimed that he had been in telephone contact with his lawyer and wife.

“Motherland and Life” is an adaptation of the slogan “Patria o Muerte” (Motherland or Death) created by the late Communist leader Fidel Castro in 1960.

This song is an unfettered criticism of the 60-year-old communist government on the island, sending out a long list of poor, Repression and tyranny.

The song was created in collaboration with Cuban artists in Florida and China. It angered the government and sparked a battle of songs. Cuban National Television hosted a pro-government music program.