Michael Moore might find it interesting that even before Dr. [Oscar Elias] Biscet was imprisoned he was barred from practicing medicine in the National Health System. Not because he was delivering poor quality care, (of course not; not in Cuba) but because Biscet was trying to secure for Cuban filmmakers and journalists the rights that Moore and all Americans take as a given.

Biscet’s condition is grave. Although reliable reports about his condition are sporadic because he’s rarely permitted visitors, it appears he’s lost at least 60 pounds during his latest confinement. While that may be a lot of weight, it’s a wonder he hasn’t lost even more. His treatment has been appalling even by the low standards applied to totalitarian regimes.

His cell is the stuff of a Victor Hugo novel: windowless and suffocating, with wretched sanitary conditions. The stench seeping from the pit in the ground that serves as a toilet is intensified by being compressed into an unventilated cell only as wide as a broom closet — and not much longer.

Biscet’s rarely permitted to leave this impossibly tiny cell that he somehow manages to share with a series of criminals who, it seems, are specifically selected by the authorities for violent tendencies, and who, Bisect maintains, are frequently incited by those authorities.

Biscet reportedly suffers from osteoarthritis, ulcers and hypertension. His teeth, those that haven’t fallen out, are rotted and infected. Water, if you can call it that, is at a premium. Prisoners often are forced to wash themselves and their clothing in water filled with feces and urine. Yet Biscet’s permitted no medicines or toiletries.

Nor is he allowed any communication with the outside world. He gets no newspapers. He can receive no visitors—not even doctors or clergy. Even his wife has only seen him fleetingly a few times over the last four years.

Despite the brutality and privation Biscet remains defiant. He somehow manages to compose brief, powerful anti-Castro letters that others smuggle out of the prison. He holds prayer vigils and hunger strikes. He continues to demand freedom and dignity for the Cuban people. In short, he insists on being an acute embarrassment to the dictatorship.

Ordinarily, the fact that Dr. Biscet is black, a follower of Martin Luther King Jr.’s nonviolence doctrine, and a political prisoner of an oppressive regime would ensure that his story would get widespread play. Actors, artists, authors, and activists would be clamoring for his release. Politicians would be making speeches condemning his treatment. Hollywood would be making movies about his struggles.