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Juventud Rebelde, Cuba

Cubans Desperate to 'Rip' Prison at Guantanamo Out of their Land

Recently, the much criticized U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay turned ten years old. According to Enrique Milanés León of Cuba's state-run Juventud Rebelde, ending Washington's 1903 'theft' of Guantanamo Bay is something that burns in the heart of every Cuban.

By Enrique Milanés León

Translated By Liz Essary

January 12, 2012

Cuba - Juventud Rebelde - Original Article (Spanish)

Detainees awaiting processing at Guantanamo in 2002: Closing the facility has turned out to be a lot harder than opening it, with allies hesitant to accept released, detainees and the U.S. Congress unwilling to allow released detainees onto U.S. territory - even if deemed 'not dangerous.' AL-JAZEERA VIDEO: Tunisian detainees return home, Jan. 11, 00:02:33

Concertina wire divides Guantanamo. And though the world may believe it is new - it is not. Around 1903, Tomás Estrada Palma, inaugurating a long chapter of theft, leased to the Yankees, at a very reasonable price and in perpetuity, something that wasnt theirs: The best strip of land in that bay.

Ever since then, the "Americans" have robbed us of our sea, obtaining what has long been thought of as a metaphor of dispossession like those dreamed up in the fertile imagination of [Colombian novelist] Garcia Marquez.

Much time has passed and it weighs heavily. Yesterday it was ten years since the United States government, with twenty first-time prisoners dressed on bright orange prison garb, established the most expensive prison in the world there. Each detainee the U.S. tortures there costs $800,000 a year. But the number of tears it has resulted in around the world is incalculable.

The executioner is not only mute, he also silences his victims. The foolishness we see is just the tip of the iceberg: sharp as glass and cold of soul. We know that along with alleged terror suspects, elderly people with dementia were sent there, along with teachers, farmers, and adolescents arrested with no probable cause or guilt for the setting of bombs.

SEE ALSO ON THIS:

Berliner Zeitung, Germany: Guantanamo: Is Anyone Truly Innocent?

Granma, Cuba: Castro Demands Return of Guantanamo Bay

Diário de Notícias, Portugal: Ten Years of Guantanamo and No End in Sight

Estadao, Brazil: Obama Incapable of Ending 'Nightmare' of Guantanamo

Die Zeit, Germany: Germany Must Refuse U.S. on Guantanamo Prisoners

Die Zeit, Germany: Guantanamo: Obama Must 'Put an End to the Secrecy'

El Pais, Spain: Guantanamo Incompatible with Mr. Obama's Principles

Liberation, France: How Brave Americans Were Turned Into Torturers

NRC Handlesblad, The Netherlands: Torture Has No Place in 'Shining City on a Hill'

Le Temps, Switzerland: Doing Evil in the Name of the Good

Izvestia, Russia: U.S. and Torture: For Mr. Obama, It's 'Hard to Be Gorby'

Publico, Spain: Torture Charges Filed Against Bush Legal Team; Judge Garzon Handles Case

Hurriyet, Turkey: Dick Cheney's Torture Logic is 'Deeply Offensive'

Die Tageszeitung, Germany: America and Torture: 'Just Following Orders'

Financial Times Deutschland, Germany: Obama: Inviting the Next Torture Scandal

Jornal de Noticias, Portugal: Poverty and Torture: Bush Has Company in Europe

Le Monde, France: 'Fussy' Rights Groups 'Wrong' to Be Impatient with Obama

Le Figaro, France: Obama's Moral Crusade: A Few Words of Caution

The Independent, U.K.: America Doesn't Need a Witch-Hunt

BBC News, U.K.: U.N. Special Rapporteur on Torture Calls CIA Exemption 'Illegal'

Ottawa Citizen, Canada: Torture the 'Chicago Way'