Pérez has faced harassment for his activism, including police beatings and repeated arbitrary detentions since 2018. He was arrested in May 2021 for co-writing “Patria y Vida,” a Grammy-winning song denouncing state repression, and has been held in solitary confinement despite an ailment afflicting lymphatic system. On June 24, 2022, he was sentenced to nine years in prison for “insulting national symbols.”
