[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 148 (2002), Part 10]
[House]
[Page 14243]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




            CUBAN POLITICAL PRISONER DR. OSCAR ELIAS BISCET

  (Mr. DEUTSCH asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. DEUTSCH. Mr. Speaker, many of us here in this Chamber have 
adopted Cuban political prisoners in order to publicize their 
unjustified incarceration. We have done so in hopes of helping them to 
regain their freedom and shed light on the numerous injustices and 
human rights violations of the Castro regime in Cuba.
  Mr. Speaker, it is my honor today to discuss my adopted Cuban 
prisoner, Dr. Oscar Biscet. Inspired by Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther 
King, Dr. Biscet's nonviolent resistance to the Cuban government has 
received international attention. As president of the Lawton Foundation 
for Human Rights, Dr. Biscet was arrested 40 times in three months for 
his peaceful opposition and organizing activities.
  In 1999, he carried out a 40-day prayer fast and organized schools on 
nonviolent tactics. This soft-spoken physician was condemned to 3 years 
in prison for hanging a Cuban flag upside down at a press conference.
  Recognized by Amnesty International as a prisoner of conscience, Dr. 
Biscet has suffered through solitary confinement, torture, and an 
appalling lack of medical care. Still his faith in mankind endures, as 
he demonstrated when he told the policemen who were torturing him with 
lit cigarettes, God loves you.
  Mr. Speaker, allowing for political dissent and debate is a 
fundamental reason why democracy adapts to, and represents the will of 
the people. I urge the Cuban government to listen to the will of its 
people, to end its continued human rights abuses, and to release Dr. 
Biscet and other political prisoners like him immediately.

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