An outspoken critic of the Castro regime who was awarded the U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom was arrested on Wednesday by Cuban authorities.
Dr. Óscar Elias Biscet was taken into custody by a four Cuban police operatives and two state security agents as he left his home, InspireAmerica.org reports.
"They would not say where he was being taken. His whereabouts are unknown. We are monitoring the situation," Miami-based civil-rights lawyer Marcell Felipe of Miami told Newsmax.
"It's the first test sent to the Trump administration by the Castro regime. They will be watching for a reaction."
The arrest comes in the wake of President Barack Obama's aggressive push to reestablish relations with the communist island nation.
Biscet, 55, is a Cuban physician and human-rights advocate, was presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2007 by President George W. Bush, but was unable to receive it because he was behind bars.
Four years earlier, Biscet was sentenced to 25 years in prison for allegedly committing crimes against Cuba, including "counter-revolutionary activities."
He was released in 2011 after repeated pleas from the United Nations and governments and human rights organizations around the world.
Biscet is no stranger to the brutality of the Cuban regime. He said was hauled into police custody in 1999 and brutally tortured.
The activist is founder of the Lawton Foundation for Human Rights, which promotes "the study, defense, and denunciation of human rights violations inside Cuba and wherever the rights and liberties of human beings are disregarded."
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