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In 1903, the United States began a 'lease' of Guantanamo Bay in Cuba as a naval facility.
One year after the victory of Fidel Castro's rebel army, the Cuban government stopped cashing the U.S. military's check, instead demanding that U.S. forces leave Guantanamo and return it to the island.
This was long before Guantanamo gained worldwide notoriety after U.S. President George W. Bush opened a prison for detainees in the wake of the Sep. 11, 2001, attacks.
In order to make good on his campaign pledge, a freshly elected President Barack Obama signed an executive order saying he would close the prison camp, which, into its 15th year of operation, has become synonymous with torture.
On Feb. 23, Obama announced a plan to close the facility, but the Republican-majority Congress does not want it closed. The issue is likely to become a major point in the election, as well as in the U.S.'s ongoing normalization of relations with Cuba.
No Plan to End What Guantanamo Represents
By Charles Davis
It has been seven years now since Obama signed the order closing a military prison that is still very much open 14 years after it took in its first inmates on January 11, 2002. However, Obama never truly planned to close Guantanamo; he merely wanted to move it. READ MORE
Click on the picture to learn about some of the innocent victims of the illegal prison.
Click on the photo to learn more about the illegal prison.
Closing Guantanamo – Jorge Gestoso interviews Heather Brandon, attorney at Human Rights First. They discuss the plight of the Guantanamo detainees, the debate on the use of torture, and prospects for closing the prison.
