Rapper ‘El Radikal’ Was Released on Bail After Being Arrested on July 11

‘El Radikal’ is investigated by the military prosecutor. (Facebook)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, 21 August 2021 — Cuban rapper Richard Adrián Zamora Brito, El Radikal, was released on bail this Friday. This was published on his Facebook profile by his colleague Osvaldo Navarro Veloz, from the Di.Verso community project, of which Zamora is also a collaborator.

“After 40 days in prison, Richard Zamora is on his way home. They released him on bail. We continue to fight for freedom and due process for those incarcerated in Cuba. We will soon have new updates on Richard’s case,” Navarro wrote, another important voice of rebellious rap and member of the Citizens Committee for Racial Integration (CIR).

Navarro told 14ymedio that Zamora was detained in the Combinado del Sur prison after being arrested by police and State Security agents at his home in the middle of the night in Colón, Matanzas, the day after participating in the July 11 protests. (11J).

His family members then requested a ’change of measure’, but it was denied, and they denounced that they were not allowed to visit him or pass on the medications that the musician needs for a treatment “of nerves and stomach problems.”

The family was never informed that in prison the artist was infected with covid-19, a fact that was only learned thanks to detainees who were released. They also did not have access to Zamora’s file nor did they know the charges against him.

Navarro explained that El Radikal was being investigated by the military prosecutor’s office and that a criminal investigator had told the family “verbally” that he was accused of “public disorder,” “robbery with force” and “disturbances.” Others of those arrested for these 11J protests, such as Eduardo Manuel Báez, 22, are also being charged for those offenses.

Báez’s father told this newspaper that “since the MLC stores* belong to the army” then “it is the military prosecutor’s office that is making the accusations” and added that they have not even allowed him to hire a lawyer for his son.

Rapper Randy Arteaga is still in prison, having also been arrested on July 11 in front of the Santa Clara Palace of Justice. “Witnesses, and the video of his arrest, indicate that he suffered physical violence at the time of his arrest,” said Osvaldo Navarro.

The list of detainees and disappeared, drawn up by a group of volunteers in collaboration with the Cubalex Legal Information Center, counts 391 protesters still in prison, four of them in “forced disappearance.”

*Translator’s note: ’MLC stores’ are stores that only accept payment in foreign currencies (MLC).

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