September 11, 2008, 10:24 PM
Combinado del Este Prison
Building 1, Hall 2 S, Cell 1232
Havana, Cuba

To the New York Academy of Sciences

Scholars, scientists, researchers and my colleagues:

Your bestowing upon me the title of Honorary Pro-Human Rights Doctor has caused me to recall many beautiful anecdotes from the time I spent practicing medicine. I helped many ill patients regain their health and even helped save the lives of others whose cases were hopeless. Nevertheless, I could see reflected on many of their faces the endless suffering they endured by continuing to live in the same society that had offended them.

All of these compatriots had to live without freedom of expression, without freedom to assemble, without freedom of the press, without freedom of speech, without freedom to change the government through periodic multi partisan elections, without freedom of worship and without other basic freedoms. I wanted to cure their bodies but also to heal their psyche. The latter, I could only achieve by risking my life by demanding of my country's tyrannical government that it allow the people to exercise their human rights.

Some courageous compatriots and I are fasting and praying to the God of the Bible and demanding of the government our rights and civil liberties and with the support of free and democratic nations, including yours, we managed to get the autocratic Cuban authorities to sign several United Nations' International Civil, Political Economic, Cultural and Social Agreements. Nevertheless, this Police State refuses to cease to exist and does not want to put into practice in our country any of the Agreements on Human Rights. Instead, it has responded by perfecting and increasing its repression against the Cuban people. What else can we expect from those who govern the nation when Fidel Castro Ruz, the Secretary General of the Cuban Communist Party (the only legal party in the nation and the one that governs) has strongly supported an undisciplined athlete's brutal attack on a judge at the Olympic Games in Beijing or when the governing Raul Castro Ruz, during a public celebration, on July 26, 2008, authorized his followers to take illegal measures against individuals who were not meeting their responsibilities at work?

We cannot honestly expect any good from these individuals who carry out State Terrorism against my people and who have turned their administration into a State of Delinquency. I know that my life is in danger and that the danger increases due to the unpleasant conditions that surround me and in which I am forced to remain. But, I will never stop carrying out the peaceful and practical humanitarian deed that I have decided to accomplish. I am incarcerated due to my own convictions until my people are free. My faith in God and the love of my family, specially that of my wife, Elsa Morejon Hernandez, who has defended me without measure, in open defiance to the oppressive regime, have strengthened me spiritually in these most difficult times.

I am very grateful to all of you, members of the New York Academy of Sciences, for granting me such a high honor. Friends of reason and liberty such as you, who detest tyranny and lack of basic freedoms, have lessened my suffering and that of my people.

Cordially,

Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet, President
Lawton Foundation for Human Rights