From our Bureau of Socialist Tolerance, Compassion, and Social Justice with some assistance from our Ministry of Harassment, Intimidation, and International Optics Bureau
Much like Lady in White leader Berta Soler, who is routinely arrested every Sunday and released hours or days later, Oscar Elías Biscet was freed after several hours under arrest. This catch-and-release trick is one of Castro, Inc.’s preferred methods of harassing dissidents. It’s a shameful charade. Pure, undiluted, Kafkaesque Castro, Inc. Kabuki theater. Painful for the dissidents, but an obvious display of Castro, Inc.’s wily manipulation of global public opinion about its strengths and weaknesses.
Dissidents with a high-recognition international profile, who are likely to attract media attention, are less likely to be jailed or given long prison sentences, but Castro, Inc. doesn’t follow hard and fast rules when it comes to dissidents it considers very dangerous, such as Jose Daniel Ferrer, who have a lower international recognition profile. Castro, Inc. is shrewdly selective with its repressive tactics.
Biscet has been freed. This is good news. But the bad news is that Castro, Inc. seems to have developed an itchy arrest trigger finger lately. Stay tuned. No one knows how Castro, Inc. will behave toward dissidents once Trump is in the White House. When it feels seriously threatened, Castro, Inc. can be as ferocious and unpredictable as a cornered wolverine.
Loosely translated from Marti Noticias
The former Cuban political prisoner and physician, Oscar Elías Biscet, was released on Tuesday after being detained for several hours at the Aguila and Dragones police station in Havana.
The news was shared by his wife, Elsa Morejón, with Martí Noticias. For several hours, Dr. Biscet’s whereabouts were unknown.
The detention occurred in public. “The police authorities of Cuba’s regime of terror did not inform me of the reason for my arbitrary detention,” said the activist. “I assume it was because of a meeting we were planning regarding the Emilia Project,” which marks its 12th anniversary on January 9 and aims to promote democracy in Cuba.
“Of course, many of my brothers and I will continue fighting until the fall of the Castro-communist dictatorship and the liberation of our people. Cuba will be free,” Biscet affirmed.
Until Tuesday night, the activist’s situation remained unclear.
In the morning, José Elías González Agüero, leader of the Unión por Cuba Libre Party (PUNCLI), explained to Martí Noticias that around 7:30 a.m., Dr. Biscet had told him he was leaving his home, which had been surrounded by police and State Security agents since Monday night.
“We haven’t heard anything else,” said González Agüero at the time, who also reported an operation outside his own residence.
Biscet was heading to Vedado to meet with leaders from PUNCLI and the Emilia Project, which he founded.
“His home was surrounded by patrol cars and G2 officers who tried to prevent him from leaving, but his house is not a prison. As a result, he was detained and taken to an unknown location,” wrote Juan Luis Bravo on Facebook.
Bravo also mentioned that PUNCLI’s ideological leader and Emilia Project coordinator, Alejandro García Arias, was threatened with arrest if he left his home.
“Juan Carlos Vasallo Fregio, PUNCLI’s Human Rights coordinator and Emilia Project leader, was the victim of a home invasion last night by officers Luisito and Denis, who warned him not to leave his residence or face severe consequences,” Bravo added.