Cuba has denounced the detention of thousands of migrants in the territory illegally occupied by the United States in Guantanamo, following arbitrary decisions by the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump.
A statement from the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples (ICAP) invites these world institutions and people of good will to raise their voices against the White House policy of retaining Latin American migrants in this military enclave, considered by Washington to be so-called “dangerous criminals.”
The text rejects the use for such purposes of this territory illegally occupied on the Caribbean island for more than 120 years, demands dignified treatment for the people confined there, and warns about the implications of the irresponsible use of this military space.
ICAP warns that such a concentration of prisoners could generate “a scenario of risk and insecurity in this illegal enclave and its surroundings, which would threaten peace and create conditions for accidents, errors and misinterpretations that could alter stability and cause serious consequences.”
The organization’s statement also demands the return of this portion of national soil “as demanded by the Cuban people and international law.”
“The presence of this base on Cuban soil is a violation of our sovereignty and a constant reminder of the interventionist policies of the United States in the region,” it added.
The Foreign Ministry also spoke out along these lines by pointing out that “this military installation is identified internationally, among other reasons, for housing a center of torture and indefinite detention, outside the jurisdiction of the American courts, where people have remained for up to 20 years who have never been prosecuted or convicted of any crime.”
The Caribbean island has denounced the illegal occupation and since 1959, the triumphant revolutionary government, headed by Fidel Castro Ruz (1926-2016), stopped collecting the rent that successive U.S. governments paid for it, and demanded its immediate return.
Cuba maintains that the prolonged presence of the U.S. military in Guantanamo violates national sovereignty and International Law, especially Article 52 of the Vienna Convention of 1969, which declares null and void any treaty that has been agreed upon under the use of force.
On January 29th, Trump signed an executive order to enable the military base at Guantanamo Bay as a destination for undocumented immigrants, and continued with his promised operation of forced expulsion, outside the law, of thousands of migrants.
