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In Cuba's Gulag
Free Dr. Biscet and other
political prisoners
Posted on Wed, Jan. 07,
2004 in The
Miami Herald.
Cuban dissident Oscar Elías Biscet's
offense was to openly advocate for human
rights in Cuba. For that he is serving a
25-year prison term in sub-human conditions.
The real crime here is how Cuba's dictatorship
is torturing Dr. Biscet for his nonviolent
opposition to its barbaric regime.
''Oscar has lost nearly 40 pounds, he is
extremely pale and lacking in appetite .
. . I didn't recognize my husband after
not having seen him in four months,'' Elsa
Morejón told El Nuevo Herald writer
Wilfredo Cancio by phone this week. "He
hadn't seen light since Dec. 8; he was as
if blinded.''
Ms. Morejón saw her husband on Dec.
30, but only after arguing with officials
at Kilo 8 prison in Pinar del Rio. She threatened
to stay in front of the prison and was allowed
to see him -- for 15 minutes. Ms. Morejón
had been allowed to see him only once before
since his sham trial in April.
This isn't his first prison stint. A physician
and long-time critic of the regime, Dr.
Biscet served a three-year term for ''disrespecting''
authority, after staging a peaceful hunger
strike in his home. Released in October
2002, he was out barely a month when, on
his way to meet other human-rights activists,
he was jailed again.
Now he's confined in a tiny, underground
punishment cell. He is denied regular family
visits, correspondence and packages of food,
medicines, toiletries or clothing. All this
for refusing to wear the uniform of a common
prisoner and bow before cruelty.
The international community -- including
diplomats, human-rights advocates, religious
and civic groups -- must wage a vigorous
campaign to free Dr. Biscet and other political
prisoners so brutally abused by Cuba's regime.
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