Cuban dissident detained for commemorating shoot-down

MIAMI, Feb 22 -- (AFP) -- A Cuban dissident was arrested in Havana Monday after participating in a demonstration to commemorate the shoot-down by the Cuban air force of two planes flown by a Miami-based dissident group.

The Cuban American National Foundation said police had arrested Oscar Elias Biscet, who had been commemorating the third anniversary of the incident in which four Cuban Americans died.

The planes belonging to the group Brothers to the Rescue were shot down by a Cuban MiG on February 24, 1996, resulting in heightened tensions between Havana and Washington.

In a statement, the foundation said it had been contacted by ``dissident sources on the island'' who said Biscet had been ``taken away by Cuban State Security forces to an undisclosed location.

``Earlier this year, he was arrested for planning a march to commemorate Dr. Martin Luther King's birthday and the principles of non-violence,'' the foundation said.