BY NANCY SAN MARTIN

  Just four days after being released from prison, prominent Cuban dissident Oscar Elías Biscet on Monday called on sympathizers and democratic governments to rid the island of President Fidel Castro, stopping short of endorsing an armed ouster.

  ''So long as the dictatorship of communist Castro exists, we Cubans cannot live in liberty and democracy, and violations of human rights will continue,'' Biscet said
  during a teleconference press briefing from Havana.

  ''I ask the democratic governments of the world, the people who love justice and liberty, to support the Cuban people and not the government of this island, which
  usurped, betrayed and dishonored the population,'' Biscet said.

  The 41-year-old physician was released from a prison last week after serving three years on charges of insulting a national symbol, creating a public disturbance and "instigation to crime.''

  Biscet was arrested Nov. 3, 1999, after displaying three Cuban flags upside down as a sign of distress.

  Monday's press briefing, organized by the Miami-based Cuban Liberty Council, was the first since Biscet's release. Even as he endorsed a peaceful transition toward democracy, Biscet did not condemn the use of violence, likening ''people who use other methods'' to Cuban patriots such as José Martí.

  Biscet also criticized a grass-roots referendum initiative known as the Varela Project, saying that it is framed within a Constitution implemented by Castro, and he
  cautioned against lifting the U.S. economic embargo on Cuba.

  Biscet said he will continue to push for change in Havana and plans to invite writers from the government media, along with international journalists, to a press
  conference later this week.

  Meanwhile, opposition sympathizers are trying to bring attention to a case involving another imprisoned dissident who was recently hospitalized after falling ill from a
  lengthy hunger strike.

  Leonardo Miguel Bruzón, 43, was arrested in February on charges of civil disobedience after he organized a demonstration in honor of the civilian pilots from Miami shot down by Cuban MiGs in 1996. His health remains fragile. His case has gotten the attention of the U.S. Department of State and Amnesty International.

  ''We call upon the Cuban government to provide Mr. Bruzón with the best medical care available and to release him from imprisonment,'' said Charles Barclay, a State
  Department spokesman. ``We call upon the world community to demand his release and the release of hundreds of other prisoners incarcerated for simply demanding freedom and justice.''

  Herald writer Larissa Ruiz Campo contributed to this report.