Cuban activist and doctor jailed by communist regime

Cuban activist and doctor Oscar Elías Biscet González was arrested by Cuban authorities on Jan. 7 and his whereabouts are presently unknown, the Cuban Emilia Project, which Biscet leads, told ADN Cuba.

Biscet was leaving his home on Friday morning when he was detained by a Cuban State Security official. The opposition leader immediately called his colleague at the Emilia Project, Roberto Azcuy, and told him that if he did not answer his phone, it was because he had been arrested.

Marcell Felipe, founder of Inspire America Foundation, told ADN America that so far, Biscet has not answered calls on any of his lines.

The Emilia Project will be nine years old on Jan. 9 and staff members hope to use the date to bring awareness to their leader’s plight.

"We will not let the date pass unnoticed. These threats are real and the safety of our leader and his family is at risk. Please, friends, be aware of what may happen to Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet Gonzalez and all the leaders of the Emilia Project,” Azcuy said in a statement.

Leadership from the Emilia Project also reported that several of its leaders have been threatened by Cuba’s communist regime.

"We are peaceful and defend non-violent civil disobedience, which is one of the main methods of struggle that the Emilia Project has against the Castro-communist regime,” organization leaders said.

Biscet was arrested by the regime in Feb. 2020 after his home was raided by authorities.

Previously, in 1999, he was sentenced to three years in prison for public disorder after initiating a hunger strike. Amnesty International then referred to him as a prisoner of conscience.

Soon after his release in 2002, he was arrested and accused of being a threat to the state and sentenced to 25 years in prison. He was released on March 11, 2011 and was among the 12 political prisoners who refused to leave Cuba following Guillermo Fariñas’ hunger strike in protest of the death of Orlando Zapata Tamayo while in custody.