[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 169 (Thursday, November 20, 2003)]
[House]
[Page H11859]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       MISTREATMENT OF CUBAN POLITICAL PRISONER, DR. OSCAR BISCET

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Pallone) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to draw attention to the 
continued plight and mistreatment of political prisoners locked in 
Cuban jails, and obviously joining with my colleagues from Florida, and 
I thank also my other colleague from New Jersey, specifically paying 
attention to Dr. Oscar Biscet.
  I have spoken on numerous occasions here on the House floor of the 
crushing campaign Castro waged against the Cuban pro-democracy movement 
earlier this year. Over the course of a few weeks in late March and 
early April, Castro's regime arrested an array of political opposition 
leaders and pro-democracy advocates. Inside of a month, the dissidents 
were arrested, arraigned, tried, and sentenced.
  Dr. Biscet, already in state custody at the time, was tried in tandem 
with the other dissidents, and in April was sentenced for 25 years for 
``serving as a mercenary to a foreign state.''
  Dr. Biscet is a 42-year-old physician. He is President of the Lawton 
Foundation for Human Rights. He is a well-known follower of Ghandi and 
Martin Luther King, and is heralded for his religious and civic 
leadership. Just last week, on November 11, at Prison Kilo Cinco y 
Medio, Dr. Biscet peacefully protested with six other political 
prisoners the cruel treatment given by prison authorities to the family 
of another fellow prisoner during their scheduled visit. Fearing that 
Dr. Biscet was becoming a leader among the other prisoners, he was 
transferred the next day to another maximum security prison in the 
province of Pinar del Rio, called Kilo 8.
  In Kilo 8, Dr. Biscet has been confined in a punishment cell that he 
has referred to as a dungeon with another prisoner who has committed 12 
violent criminal assaults, a blatant attempt to put Dr. Biscet's life 
in danger. His wife and parents traveled to Kilo 8 this Monday, 
November 17, for their assigned family visit. When they arrived, prison 
authorities informed them that Dr. Biscet was punished for 21 days 
without family visits. They told his family he is currently being 
confined in a cell with no sunlight that literally measures four feet 
by four feet. They told his family that he had been denied food 
supplies and toiletries and is without writing or reading materials.
  Upon hearing this news, his mother required medical attention from 
the prison staff due to a sudden rise in her blood pressure and the 
horror of her son's living conditions. Mr. Speaker, compelled by 
circumstances and the persistence of Dr. Biscet's wife, prison 
authorities allowed his mother to see her son, but only for 10 minutes. 
Dr. Biscet asked his mother to alert international public opinion, 
since he had broken no prison rule, and they were forcing him to share 
a cell with a violent criminal intentionally placing his life in 
danger.
  So I join my colleagues here on the House floor to inform Congress 
and the American public of the inhumane treatment of Dr. Biscet. I ask 
all my colleagues to join us here on the floor and to demand the 
unconditional and immediate release of Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet and all 
those prisoners whose only crime is a desire for basic human rights. We 
must send a strong message to Castro that his abuse of Cuban political 
prisoners has not gone unnoticed and will not be allowed to continue.

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