Police Confirm To ‘El Sexto’ He Can Not Leave The Country / 14ymedio

Danilo Maldonado, known as El Sexto (The Sixth). (Artist File)
Danilo Maldonado, known as El Sexto (The Sixth). (Artist File)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, 24 November 2016 — Police informed the graffiti artist Danilo Maldonado – known as ‘El Sexto’, (The Sixth) – that he can not leave the country because he is “regulated,” having been accused in a legal process due to a complaint by his ex-wife. He received the information within a few minutes of an official at the Zapata and C Police Station, in El Vedado, telling him the exact opposite.

The artist has attempted, this Tuesday, to travel to the United States after receiving a police summons, but was not able to board the plane.

El Sexto detailed to 14ymedi that earlier this week he received at the home of his mother, Maria Victoria Machado, a summons for 22 November for an “interview.” The uniformed officer who delivered the citation told the family that it was related to “a complaint for harassment” made by his ex-wife.

However, when he presented himself on Tuesday morning in response to the citation, police officials were not able to give him any more details about the presumed accusation. Maldonado tried to travel that same day, but at the airport an immigration official confirmed that he was “regulated” by the National Revolutionary Police (PNR).

On Thursday the artist went to the Vedado police station to demand an explanation of his case. There they told him he could not travel, but a few minutes later he received contrary information.

El Sexto was arrested in Havana on Christmas Eve of 2014, when he proposed to stage a performance with two pigs he had painted with the names of Fidel of Raul. On that occasion he spent ten months in Valle Grande prison without trial.