By TRACEY EATON / The Dallas Morning News

HAVANA – One of Cuba's best-known dissidents was released from jail Thursday after serving a three-year term.

Oscar Elías Biscet, 41, president and founder of the Lawton Foundation for Human Rights, had been jailed on charges of public disorder, instigating delinquency and
disrespecting the Cuban flag.

He was released at 5:30 a.m. Thursday and met by his wife, Elsa Morejon, at the prison, relatives said.

But dozens of other foes of the socialist regime, including a blind man and a hunger striker who was reported near death, remain behind bars.

This summer, an opposition group called the Cuban Commission for Human Rights and National Reconciliation estimated that the number of political prisoners in
Cuba had climbed from 210 in late 2001 to 230 in June.

Dr. Biscet lost his physician's job and was evicted from his home because of his anti-government activities, relatives said. State security agents also subjected him to
psychiatric examinations and pressured him to leave the country, they said.

He refused at the time, saying: "Today the Cuban people live in darkness, and human rights activists are caught inside a tornado called communism. But we begin to
see the awakening of a dawn when a radiant sun will soon shine."

The government had no immediate comment on his release.

Police detained Dr. Biscet 26 times over an 18-month period before he was jailed in November 1999. His offenses included leading a 40-day fast in 1999 – one
day for each year of Fidel Castro's rule; demanding that all political prisoners be freed; hanging a Cuban flag upside-down; and celebrating the 50th anniversary of
the Declaration of Human Rights in a public park.

He served his three-year jail term at the Cuba Sí prison in the eastern town of Holguín, 400 miles from his home. Relatives allege that he was routinely beaten, an
accusation that authorities have denied.

Amnesty International declared Dr. Biscet a prisoner of conscience and complained that guards kept him in solitary confinement for long periods.

Human rights activists say they are grateful Dr. Biscet is free, but they worry about other dissidents, including a blind activist named Juan Carlos González Leiva.

Mr. González, an attorney and president of the Cuban Foundation for Human Rights, is in prison in Holguín and has been awaiting trial since March 4.

He was jailed after taking part in a peaceful anti-government protest and shouting "Long live free Cuba! Long live human rights!" Authorities accuse him of
disrespect, public disorder, resisting arrest and disobedience, and they recommend a prison term of six to eight years.

On Sept. 4, Mr. González began a hunger strike to protest the charges brought against him and nine other activists. His wife said he wants to act as his own lawyer in
court. He also requests that his trial be televised and that the foreign media be allowed to cover it.

Relatives say they aren't sure when his trial will take place. For now, they worry about his health.

"I am a sick man," Mr. González said in a letter to his wife. Prison authorities "have destroyed my nervous system. ... I have problems with my blood pressure. Here
we never see doctors, only a nurse lacking in both experience and in knowledge."

Cuban authorities have declined to comment on his accusations.

Another prisoner who human rights activists are concerned about is Leonardo Miguel Bruzón Ávila, president of the 24th of February Movement.

He is dying as a result of a hunger strike that began in August at Quivicán Prison in Havana, according to the Free Cuba Foundation, a U.S-based nonprofit.

"His body is covered with ulcers," said his mother, Arcila Ávila. "He can hardly talk."

He weighs 70 pounds, his mother said.

Mr. Bruzón was arrested in February 2002 after organizing a peaceful protest in Havana to honor the four Cuban-Americans killed after their two civilian aircraft
were shot down off the island's shores by Cuban fighter jets in February 1996.

"Mr. Bruzón urgently needs medical care. He should be freed. He should never have been imprisoned in the first place," the Free Cuba Foundation said.

Accusations about mistreatment in Cuban jails are difficult to verify. Cuba is one of the few countries that does not allow the International Red Cross or other
international organizations to inspect its prisons.

U.S. diplomats in Havana have condemned the jailing of dissidents and last week opened a photo exhibit at the U.S. Interests Section, showing Cuban political
prisoners.