Rapper Denis Solis Leaves Cuba

The rebellious rapper Denis Solís, captured at the Havana airport, in one of the images released by anonymous accounts at the service of the Cuban regime this Sunday. (Screen capture)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, 29 Noviembre 2021 — The rebellious rapper Denis Solís, who was released from jail in July after an eight-month sentence for contempt which was decreed in a summary trial, has left Cuba. After speaking with an uncle of the artist, Vladimir Lázaro González, 14ymedio was able to confirm that the trip took place on November 27 and the flight was destined for Moscow, and then headed to Serbia. “He left with his daughter and a cousin,” His uncle said.

The art curator Anamely Ramos later posted in her social networks that she has been able to talk with Solís, who is already in Serbia, and the decision was “personal and family… driven by the harassment to which he has been subjected since he was released from prison in July.” At the moment, the rapper does not want to give more details but has announced his intention to do so shortly.

The news had been disseminated this Sunday by anonymous accounts at the service of the regime, which announced that the destination of the activist, a member of the San Isidro Movement (MSI), was Serbia. In the official posts, the information was accompanied by images that show Solís at the José Martí International Airport in Havana, carrying a suitcase and accompanied by family members.

The arrest and imprisonment of Solís, in November 2020, was the origin of the protest of some members of the MSI, who gathered on hunger strike at the headquarters of the group, in Old Havana, for more than a week.

They were violently evicted from there by State Security by agents dressed as healthcare workers on November 26, which in turn provoked the solidarity of more than 300 artists who, the next day, gathered in front of the Ministry of Culture to request a dialogue with the authorities, and thus creating the 27N (27 November) Group. The anniversary of those events is this weekend.

Subsequently, on December 4, Luis Robles was arrested December 4th on Boulevard de San Rafael in Havana holding a placard demanding the release of Denis Solís. Robles has not been released from prison, and almost a year later is still awaiting trial.

So far, Solís has not made any statements about his trip, and neither has any member of the MSI, inside or outside Cuba. It is not known if it is temporary or migratory.

It is not by chance that the main party interested in spreading the news is the Cuban regime. The recent release of the artist Hamlet Lavastida in exchange for his exile in Poland , where he traveled accompanied by his partner, the poet Katherine Bisquet, made clear the regime’s strategy toward opponents engaged in the most recent movements.

Members of MSI and 27N who are outside Cuba at present include Tania Bruguera, Camila Lobón, Claudia Genlui, Alfredo Martínez and Yunior García Aguilera. García Aguilera, through the Archipiélago platform, had called for the Civic March for 15 November, which was ultimately frustrated by the actions of the authorities.

Also outside of Cuba is Eliexer Márquez, known as El Funky, one of the performers of Patria y Vida, who from Miami declared: “Be clear that my objective is called Maykel Castillo Pérez (El Osorbo), my brother, and I will do what I can and do the impossible to support his freedom as much as that of all prisoners unjustly held. I am here today on behalf of the San Isidro Movement and without forgetting my brothers Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara and Esteban Rodríguez and Anyelo Troya because I am in a country of freedom and it is a right to express yourself. This starts now. ”

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