Eighty-six organizations working in the field of migrant rights, human rights and humanitarian aid were sent message To Congress today, as the US military threatens to detain Cubans at Guantanamo if they begin to flee deteriorating conditions in their country – conditions resulting from US sanctions and a fuel blockade. The authors call on Congress to end the sanctions, fuel embargo, and funding for Guantanamo so that it is no longer used for mass detentions and eventually closed for good. “Guantanamo should be a relic of the past,” they wrote.
Signatories to this letter include the Center for Constitutional Rights, the Center for Victims of Torture, the International Refugee Assistance Project, Refugees International, the American Friends Service Committee, Defending Rights and Dissent, the Center for Gender and Refugee Studies, the Latin American Action Group, the Center for Economic and Policy Research, and the World Church Service, among others in response to comments On March 19, Southern Command Commander General Francis L. Donovan said that in the event of a mass exodus from Cuba, Southern Command “would set up a migrant processing camp” at the US Naval Station at Guantanamo Bay.
With a de facto US oil blockade of Cuba and a worsening humanitarian crisis on the island, such a mass migration looks increasingly likely. The organizations signing the letter express concern that “given the well-documented history of arbitrary and unlawful detention at Guantanamo, any suggestion that the base be used for additional detention is deeply troubling and unacceptable.”
The groups addressed their letter to Congress because “Congress has the authority to stop the use of the naval base for any form of detention — and must take steps to defund detention operations and close Guantanamo forever.”
message It goes on to describe the history of abuse and mistreatment at the Guantanamo Migrant Operations Center, particularly during the 1990s when many Haitian refugees were detained there following the 1991 CIA-backed coup against Haiti’s democratically elected government. The letter cites inadequate medical care and poor health and safety conditions as other reasons for concern.
Expert comment:
“We have seen time and time again that the United States government attempts to use Guantanamo as a legal black hole to mistreat migrants, subject them to inhumane conditions and interfere with their right to seek protection in the United States and their right to counsel. The International Refugee Institute opposes any effort to continue detention at Guantanamo.” — Pedro Sepulveda, litigation fellow at the International Refugee Assistance Project
“The continued use of Guantanamo Bay, which has a long history of abuse and torture, is horrific and unconscionable. By disappearing people at Guantanamo, the administration is putting people’s lives at risk, withholding transparency, denying people due process, and subjecting them to brutal, sometimes indefinite conditions. We demand the permanent closure of Guantanamo, and condemn any continued expansion of the facility and a deadly immigration detention system that is already operating at an unprecedented pace. Scale and scale at taxpayer expense Americans — Satareh Gandhari, Advocacy Director at the Detention Monitoring Network
“The continuing threat to use the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay to detain immigrants would expand one of the most troubling chapters in our nation’s history, where legal gray zones deprive people of their basic rights. Guantanamo continues to hold illegal detainees. Expanding its use to detain immigrants would further entrench a system designed to evade due process and accountability. Proposals to establish a migrant camp at Guantanamo in response to potential migration from Cuba reflect a dangerous willingness to ignore Rule of Law Congress must act to defund such detention, close Guantánamo once and for all, and address the root causes of migration, including harmful sanctions policies that destabilize entire populations — Robert S. McCaw, director of government affairs at the Council on American-Islamic Relations
“If the Trump administration is concerned about Cuban immigration, the solution is simple: stop deliberately impoverishing the Cuban people through embargoes and fuel blockades.” — Michael Gallant is a senior research associate at the Center for Economic and Policy Research
“The President has viewed Guantanamo detention as a threat to the heads of migrants in the United States, and now threatens the same to Cubans who may be forced to flee their homes as a result of his actions. The United States cannot continue to capitalize on Guantanamo’s legacy of torture and inhuman treatment to terrorize people seeking safety.” — Youmna Radwi, Center for Victims of Torture, Senior Policy Analyst
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