For Cuba, a Democratic Presidente

It took more than 50 years to find an opposition leader who could unite the Cuban people and lead a movement that could drive the Fidel/Raul Castro communist dictatorship out of power. But now a person finally has emerged who, many believe, could be the next legitimate presidente of a free and democratic Cuba.

His name is Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet. He is a 49-year-old black physician, prominent dissident and human rights activist who was released from one of Cuba's dungeons for political prisoners almost two weeks ago and whose principles and integrity have earned him the respect of Cubans in exile and on the island.

If Biscet can stay out of prison — and that's a huge "if" — many Cubans believe he could be the messiah they have sought for so many years.

But when Biscet was released from prison in 2002 — after serving a three-year sentence for organizing a peaceful demonstration — he lasted only 37 days on the streets of Havana, where he organized protests that earned him another sentence of 25 years for "acts against the sovereignty and independence of the national territory."

Last week, when that sentence was commuted to eight years, Biscet vowed to continue speaking out for freedom. Don't even ask him whether he is coming back to rejoin the freedom movement; he says he never left!

"I am not going to say that I will continue in the opposition, because in jail I never stopped fighting against this government and the abuses it commits," Biscet told an international news agency based in Havana.

It is that vertical posture — that fearless willingness to challenge one of the most repressive regimes on the planet — that makes him such an attractive leader to Cubans who long for freedom.

"In the name of the Cuban people, I demand the immediate resignation of Fidel Castro — and of Raul and of their minions — to form a transitional national government," Biscet charged in a video conference with Miami Dade College last week, only days after being released from Combinado del Este, one of Cuba's most notorious gulags.

He said that if international human rights organizations and U.N. inspectors were allowed to visit Cuba's prisons, they would find "violence, cruelty, torture, suicides, degradation, mutilations, insults to the dignity of mankind, anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress, acarophobia, food that is insufficient and spoiled, and racism where the majority of the population is black."

Does that sound familiar? Remember South Africa? Could Biscet be the world's next Nelson Mandela?

The Cuban government normally insists on forcing dissidents released from prison to leave Cuba — an escape valve used to rid the island of opposition leaders — but in spite of having to endure constant harassment and repression, Biscet refuses to leave Cuba.

His courageous posture and unblemished integrity have earned him worldwide recognition, which in turn protects him from further harm by the Cuban government.

Ironically, it's Biscet's notoriety abroad that has kept him alive in his homeland.

"I made the decision not to leave the country until it is free," he told a Spanish TV network in Havana shortly after arriving home from prison. "I'm Cuban. I would like to live here, and here I will remain until God decides to take me. But while I wait for that natural end that comes to everyone, the end of life, while I wait for that, it won't be sitting at home. It will be seeking those (human) rights that belong to the Cuban people."

Biscet's fight for human rights became known to the outside world in the late 1990s, when he was arrested 27 times for organizing peaceful protests. As a medical doctor, he became an activist as part of a Christian-based campaign that opposes Cuba's use of the drug Rivanol for late-term abortions. Cuba lies to the world about its superb prenatal care, so Biscet was offering an embarrassing explanation for why the island has such a low infant mortality rate.

But Biscet doesn't just talk about abortions now. He talks about uniting the Cuban people behind a popular movement that could drive the Castro brothers out of power. "The government has made some changes, but they are cosmetic changes, changes to deceive the Cuban people," he told reporters, "changes that will not lead to democracy and liberty."

Though government repression has made a popular uprising impossible in the past, Biscet says that nowadays there are many more Cuban dissidents like him, those who are willing to risk everything for freedom. "This makes me think that in reality, the government is bankrupt," he added.

Even when the Castros' goons are violating his human rights, Biscet tells them that the time has come for them to surrender. Mahatma Gandhi would be proud.

To find out more about Miguel Perez and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.

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