[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 102 (Wednesday, July 21, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1446]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     A BIRTHDAY GREETING FOR A HERO

                                 ______
                                 

                             HON. TOM DeLAY

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, July 21, 2004

  Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, yesterday in Pinar del Rio, Cuba, somewhere 
in the dungeon bowels of Prison Kilo Ocho, Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet--
prisoner of conscience--turned 43 years old.
  Dr. Biscet is a hero of the kind that men and nations yearn for their 
entire lives.
  He is a human rights activist, a man of peace and justice, and 
therefore a sworn enemy of Fidel Castro and his terrorist regime in 
Havana.
  A student of Mahatma Ghandi and Martin Luther King, Dr. Biscet has 
led nonviolent opposition to Castro and his murderous, kleptomaniac 
government for years, whether on the streets of Havana or in the foul 
cages that pass for prison cells in Castro's Cuba.
  Despite years-long separation from his wife and family, untreated 
illnesses, and ongoing abuse by prison guards, Dr. Biscet remains in 
high spirits today.
  He is an inspiration to all who suffer for the cause of freedom, a 
threat to all who seek to undermine that cause, and a stinging 
indictment against free men the world over who would ignore the cries 
of injustice ringing out from an imprisoned island.
  But this House and this Nation will not ignore, or forget, or bend in 
our determination to see human rights and human freedom restored to 
Cuba.
  Mr. Speaker, these brief remarks may be little noted by journalists 
today and historians tomorrow, but they merit the saying just the same.
  That somewhere in Cuba today, an honest man suffers so his 
countrymen--so that all men--might be free is a heroic thing, one the 
world owes it to him, itself, and our Creator to notice.
  I recognize Oscar Biscet today not because he needs us, but because 
we need him.
  And I honor Oscar Biscet today, as we all should, Mr. Speaker, 
because by the life of service he has chosen, he honors all of mankind.
  I wish him and his family health and strength for his 43rd birthday 
and send my hopes that this will be his last separated from his loved 
ones and suffering under the bootheel of evil.

                          ____________________