Detained during the “Black Spring” of March 2003, Dr. Biscet and 74 other members of the opposition movement were considered prisoners of conscience by Amnesty International, drawing international condemnation, including a common European Union stance against Castro’s regime.
Carefully planned to decapitate Cuba’s growing opposition movement at a time when the world’s attention was focused on the outset of the Iraq war, the now infamous crackdown saw dozens of journalists, librarians, and human rights activists rounded up, summarily tried, and sentenced for up to 28 years in jail.