El Sexto’ Will Stay In The US But Will Continue To Fight Against Arbitrary Detentions In Cuba

El Sexto’ Will Stay In The US But Will Continue To Fight Against
Arbitrary Detentions In Cuba

14ymedio, Mario Penton, Miami, 15 May 2017 — The artist Danilo
Maldonado, known as ‘El Sexto’ (The Sixth), announced his desire to
reside in the United States, although he will remain attentive to what
happens in Cuba to be able to denounce the arbitrary detentions.

Maldonado, whose girlfriend, Alexandra Martinez, is a US citizen,
declined to respond to a request from 14ymedio to confirm his decision
to remain in the United States. For her part, Martinez said that the
artist was not going to give statements on the matter.

El Sexto recently concluded the exhibition Angels and Demons in San
Francisco, where he staged a three-day performance in which he was
enclosed in a replica of the punishment cell in Havana’s Combinado del
Este prison where he was held.

In 2014 he tried to stage a performance titled “Animal Farm,” in which
he intended to release two pigs with the names Fidel and Raul painted on
their sides. Although he never managed to stage the performance, it cost
him 10 months in Valle Grande prison, on the outskirts of Havana.

The artist has been arrested three times for political reasons

In the dark hours of the morning after the announcement of the death of
Fidel Castro, Danilo wrote “He left” on one of the walls of the Habana
Libre Hotel, which cost him another 55 days in prison.

“This can not be a one-day protest, right now this is happening in many
countries, even our neighbors, and we have to report it,” Maldonado told
EFE in reference to repressive actions against dissidents and human
rights activists.

During the 36 hours of the performance in San Francisco,
titled Amnesty, El Sexto remained without food in solidarity with the
Cuban political prisoners Eduardo Cardet and Julio Ferrer, among
others. The artist also dedicated his hunger strike to Leopoldo López
and the other Venezuelan political prisoners.

Maldonado took the pseudonym El Sexto (The Sixth), with which he signed
his graffiti on the streets of Havana, as an ironic response to the
Cuban government’s campaign for the return of the so-called “Cuban
Five,” five spies who were then in prison in the United States.

In 2015, Danilo Maldonado, 34, received the Vaclav Havel Prize for
Creative Dissent, awarded to activists “who engage in creative dissent,
exhibiting courage and creativity to challenge injustice and live in truth.”

Source: ‘El Sexto’ Will Stay In The US But Will Continue To Fight
Against Arbitrary Detentions In Cuba – Translating Cuba –
translatingcuba.com/el-sexto-will-stay-in-the-us-but-will-continue-to-fight-against-arbitrary-detentions-in-cuba/