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The admirable origin of Elías Biscet's Movement: Defend the viability of the Cuban Nation.

By Alberto Luzárraga.

The Movimiento Cubano  Unidad Democratica (M.C.U.D.) has recently published (http: // www.cubamcud.org  / ) documents about Elias Biscet M.D. that must be disseminated as they illustrate his thought and explain why Castro's totalitarian government hates him so ferociously. In 1997, two members of the Lawton Foundation, Dr. Elias Biscet and Rolando Munoz Yyobre, brought out into the public square a clandestine study (see reference at http: // www.free-biscet.org  ) based on data obtained in the hospital "10 de Octubre, Hijas de Galicia". This study titled "Rivanol, a Method for Destroying Life, provided statistics regarding this particular method of abortion. The study was presented to the Cuban government the 9th of June of 1998 and was dedicated to the 23 children assassinated in the tug boat "13th of March".

Dr. Biscet, as member of the Lawton Foundation, presented a document called: "A Certain Attitude that Concerns us All" wherein he said: "No human being should turn into the property or the object of another's arbitrariness. The one not yet born is a unique and differentiated being, with his or her own genetic individuality and the parents, at their whim, cannot and should not dispose of the life of this being. We had the opportunity to see the light; we should not deprive others of this marvelous experience." This document was read to the doctors in the theatre of the hospital "Hijas de Galicia" on the 24th of February, 1998.

That was the beginning of the systematic persecution of Dr. Elias Biscet. The next day, 25th of February, 1998, two doctors members of the Communist party, acting on orders from the State Security, organized an act of repudiation and Biscet was summarily fired from his job for "violating the labor discipline" according to the resolution dated 24th of February, 1998 signed by Laura Fernández, director of the hospital.

Dr. Biscet's attitude did not originate in a vacuum. He had been impacted by the quantity of abortions in Cuba. Mass abortion is a scourge that permeates the society and affects particularly, the teenagers subjected to the promiscuity present in the boarding schools in the countryside. Young teenagers are obliged to attend by an amoral and evil government that, it would seem, plans and designs the end result. As opposed to Jose Marti who wrote "La Edad de Oro" ( The Golden Age) for children, Castro is making sure that in Cuba there is no childhood or adolescence.

The relevant data that Dr. Biscet knew well should make us ponder the fact that a country that sacrifices its own children and risks the physical and psychological health of its daughters cannot progress. This is an aspect of Dr. Biscet's struggle that is often passed over. Dr. Biscet understands and denounces it because he knows that Castro has pushed the country, not only to economic and moral disintegration but also to physical a exhaustion that will result the destruction of the Cuban nationality.

Dr. Biscet, human rights leader, is impeccably logical in his train of thought. The first of the human rights is life; all others derive from it.

If the reader does not share Dr. Biscet's philosophical position, it should examine then the sociological aspect of the issue as it impacts the viability of the Cuban nation. Let's examine the Cuban reality using data published in Cuba by persons that evidently share the concern that Cuba is one of the countries destined to an accelerated aging process.

According to Osvaldo Prieto,* director of the Centro Iberoamericano de la Tercera Edad (CITED) (Spanish American Center for the Third Age), old people, constitute 13.1% of the population (around 1,400,000 persons) and in 25 years, the percentage will rise up to 25%. He states that "our population must realize that within a quarter century, one of every four Cubans will be old; therefore we should prepare to face some changes in medical and social resources."

Dr. Otilia Z. Barros Diaz ** of the Centro de Estudios Demograficos de la Universidad de la Habana (CEDEM) (Center for Demographical Studies of the University of Havana), in a study entitled: "Development and the Demographic Perspectives in Cuba: New Developments in the Population: Towards a Sustainable Development", remarks: Cuba is considered among the countries with a larger aging population, having, at the end of 2002, more than 14% of its population older than 60 years. In Latin America, only Uruguay, with 16%, surpasses Cuba. According to 2001 figures, fertility is around 1.6 child per woman and life expectancy is 77 years. From 1978, Cuban women do not cover the rate for population replacement, established at the rate of 1 daughter for each woman." For Dr. Barros Diaz, "the fundamental causes of the aging of the population can be found in the diminishing birth rate. It diminished from 18 births for each 1000 inhabitants in 1988, to 13.6 births for each 1000 inhabitants in 1998."

The principal cause is the aforementioned one, abortion practiced on adolescents. One quote confirms it: "Dr. Rolando Ramirez***, especialist in Ginecology and Obstetrics in Guantánamo, informs us that "every week, from Monday to Friday, at least 20 abortions take place each day. "Fridays are the saddest days, he explained, because each time, there are 20 adolescent. Girls between the ages of 13 and 14 years are subjected to this aggressive procedure." Dr. Ramirez revealed that the majority of these girls try to escape a difficult situation that could have been avoided, but that they did not receive a timely sex education. According to the doctor, abortions are increasing in that section of the country, and as corroboration he mentioned that in 1999 there were 1,898 abortions with 503 of these corresponding to adolescents. However, emphasized Dr. Ramirez, at the end of this year's first semester, numbers were up, with 1,105 pregnancy interruptions of which 354 were minors."

It is clear that this practice, on a continued basis, ruins the health of the young, fertile woman, and also degrades her inasmuch as it facilitates her use as a pleasure object. It also encourages irresponsibility and selfishness among males.

Finally, official statistics show the stark reality. Claudia Marquez**** informs us that" between 1968 and 1992 there were 2.9 million interrupted pregnancies and that from 1993 to 1997, 424,214 abortions took place. That results that in the last 3 decades, there have been more than 3 million interrupted pregnancies. In the last years, health officials have recognized that there is a significant increase in the number of pregnancies in women under the age of 20, with all the danger that it implies for these young women and the family problems that this entails."

Dr. Biscet is the only opposition leader that has met this challenge head on dedicating his study to the children murdered on the tugboat "13th of March" and presenting it to the government. His challenge of officially sanctioned evil is both brave and principled, an additional reason to consider him the most coherent and admirable of Castro's opposition. This is an issue that will not go away as it is real, true and grave. The exile community and principled people all over the world must face it. It is our obligation and duty to do so.

* La Habana, December 17, 1998 (www.cubanet.org)

** La Habana, 1998 (ACI)

*** Cubanet, September 15, 2000

**** Más de 3 millones de abortos en 30 años, Claudia Márquez, Cubanet

copyright 2004) A. Luzarraga


Fuente: www.futurodecuba.org