Inspire America Foundation Reports Castro Regime Arrests former Nobel candidate and US Presidential Medal of Freedom honoree, Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet

MIAMI, Feb. 20, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- At approximately 7:30am this morning, Castro's secret police broke into the home of Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet and arrested him in front of his wife, Elsa Morejon.  He was driven to an undisclosed location and released this afternoon. 

Four police vehicles and two motorcycles remained parked outside of the home in Havana, while at least four regime officials searched the home, breaking many of its contents and confiscating computers and other items.  After leaving, officials returned and confiscated Mrs. Morejon's cell phones and deleted accounts of incident she had posted to her Twitter account. 

Friends and neighbors contacted the Inspire America Foundation, which in turn disseminated the news on social media this morning. 

Senator Rubio quickly issued a statement through his twitter account: @SenRubioPress "the dictatorship is responsible for his wellbeing"

Marcell Felipe, Chairman of the Inspire America Foundation stated that "the responsibility lies with Kenia Maria Morales and everyone up the chain of command, who participated in the detention of this non-violent human rights leader, the day will come, when Cuba as a free and democratic republic, will bring them before a court of justice for their crimes."

The arrest comes months after the arrest of another prominent opposition leader, Jose Daniel Ferrer, and in the midst of the greatest economic and social crisis confronting the regime since its "special period" in the early 1990s. 

After losing billions of dollars in the last 12 months, the regime is starving for hard currency, and has introduced a number of unpopular measures including not providing Cubans with basic personal care products such as soap, leading to long lines and disturbances throughout the island. In addition, to obtain hard currency the regime has authorized the importation of luxury automobiles further contributing to stark contrasts between the ruling class and those they rule. The crumbling houses which recently took the lives of three little girls has only intensified the already tense situation. 

Fearing an unsustainable public pressure, the regime has arrested the opposition leader they fear the most, Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet. Dr. Biscet received the US Presidential Medal of Freedom from George Bush in 2007 and has been proposed as a nominee for the Nobel Prize by numerous foreign leaders. After serving his first prison sentence, Dr. Biscet was received as a hero in his neighborhood by a multitude of Cubans, prompting the regime to re-arrest him a month later, this time, forcing him to serve nine years in prison. 

In 2016, Dr. Biscet was the keynote speaker at the inauguration of the Inspire America Foundation, where numerous leaders praised his work on human rights in Cuba, including Senator Marco Rubio and President Alvaro Uribe of Colombia. (see inspireamerica.org)

In its tenure, the Castro regime has imprisoned and tortured thousands of non-violent opponents and has murdered tens of thousands. CubaArchive.org has at least 5,000 homicide cases documented by at least two witnesses, and some academics have estimated the figure in the tens of thousands. 

SOURCE Inspire America Foundation