Danilo Maldonado

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"El Sexto" Danilo Maldonado (2017)

Danilo Maldonado Machado , stage name: " El Sexto " (the sixth), (born April 1, 1983 in Nuevitas ) is a Cuban graffiti artist and opposition activist. His stage name is a reference to the Miami Five , a group of five Cubans who were sentenced to long prison terms for espionage in the United States and who are considered heroes in Cuba. He describes himself as “the sixth hero”. He was arrested several times for his artistic and oppositional activities. Two of them for several months.

Live and act

Danilo Maldonado grew up in a poor area near Camagüey . His first projects began in 2011 when he sprayed dilapidated walls in Cuba's capital Havana with messages such as "Peace, love, without fear".

In 2012 he began to hand out flyers with the word “Miedo” (fear) in front. On the back it read: “Fear is what you imagine. Overcome your fear and tear it up now. Life doesn't wait. ”Another flyer had to be folded into a paper airplane. On top of that it could be read: “Libertad” (freedom). He explained this with the words: "But like the Cubans, this plane does not go very far."

A campaign in December 2014 attracted more international attention when he painted two pigs with the names Fidel and Raúl . This was a nod to Orwell's work, Animal Farm , where the pigs represent the dictatorial rulers. He spent ten months in prison for this. Amnesty International declared him a prisoner of conscience . While in detention, he went on a hunger strike for three weeks . Ulla Schmidt , then Vice-President of the Bundestag , declared him her “political godchild ”. He was released after ten months in prison without charge. Shortly afterwards he received the Vaclav Havel Prize for Creative Dissidents .

The second several months imprisonment brought him an action after the death of Fidel Castro. On December 26, 2016, the day after Fidel's death, he wrote the words “Se fue” (He is gone) on the outside wall of the Hotel Habana Libre . That same night he was arrested and spent another two months in prison without charge, although Cuban criminal law only punishes him with a fine for such vandalism . The opposition punk musician Gorky Aguila supported El Sexto. A human rights organization in the USA hired the well-known lawyer Kimberley Motley to defend him, even though independent legal counsel is not permitted in Cuba. She was arrested before a planned improvised press conference in Havana, interrogated and deported a short time later. International human rights organizations such as Human Rights Watch or Amnesty repeatedly campaigned for his release. His mother reports physical abuse, including being beaten, when he was arrested.

Maldonado is not without controversy among Cubans. He has good relations with the Cuban exiled community in Miami . He is accused of using his art mainly for self-expression and provocation. El Sexto also agrees with the latter. For him it is part of the performance when the regime reacts allergically and with dictatorial methods to his actions.

Awards

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ statement EL SEXTO II. Youtube, December 22, 2011, accessed on January 22, 2017 (Spanish).
  2. ^ Danilo Maldonado: Flyers. Youtube, March 22, 2012, accessed January 22, 2017 (Spanish).
  3. ↑ EFE : Artista cubano recrea obra con cerdos que le llevo a la cárcel. Youtube, February 26, 2016, accessed January 23, 2017 (Spanish).
  4. ^ Artist still in custody. Amnesty International, October 16, 2015, accessed January 23, 2017 .
  5. ↑ a b Boris Herrmann: In prison for five letters. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung. January 23, 2017. Retrieved January 23, 2017 .
  6. ↑ Dominique Bonessi: Meet El Sexto, the performance artist pushing for free speech in Cuba. pbs.org, March 22, 2016, accessed February 4, 2017 .
  7. ↑ El Sexto, 'el héroe de los que no aguantan más'. In: Diario de Cuba. January 4, 2017, Retrieved February 4, 2017 (Spanish).
  8. ^ El Pata, Gorki Aguila: SE FUE (Y BIEN). Youtube, January 4, 2017, accessed February 4, 2017 (Spanish).
  9. ↑ Abogada estadounidense detenida en Cuba, liberada y rumbo a casa. Deutsche Welle, December 18, 2016, accessed February 4, 2017 (Spanish).
  10. ↑ Alyssa Buffenstein: Human Rights Attorney Representing El Sexto Arrested in Havana. In: aernet * news. December 19, 2016, accessed February 4, 2017 .
  11. ↑ Mark Gollom, Chelsea Gomez: Graffiti artist 'El Sexto' held in Cuban prison for spray painting anti-Castro message. CBS News, December 7, 2016, accessed February 4, 2017 .
personal data
SURNAME Maldonado, Danilo
ALTERNATIVE NAMES El Sexto (stage name); Maldonado Machado, Danilo (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Cuban graffiti artist and political activist
DATE OF BIRTH April 1, 1983
PLACE OF BIRTH Nuevitas , Cuba