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The official visit of a UN expert to Guantánamo, for the first time in history, revived the debate on the human rights situation in this prison controlled by the United States. The visit concluded that the closure of Guantánamo is a priority because the detainees would face physical and psychological harm due to torture and other violations of their rights. The United States responded that this visit did not reflect the general vision of the UN.
In this edition of El Debate we analyze the human rights situation in Guantánamo after the visit of Fionnuala Ní Aoláin, UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the fight against terrorism. The rapporteur had full access and spoke with some detainees; and while she acknowledged significant improvements in prison conditions, she said she has serious concerns for the 30 men still incarcerated.
For César Muñoz, associate director of the Latin America and Caribbean department of Human Rights Watch and a guest on this program, Guantánamo represents “a legal vacuum created by the United States.” Cases like Khalid Sheikh Mohammed’sconsidered the intellectual author of the attacks of September 11, 2001reflect this void: Mohammed has spent 20 years in prison without a conviction.
The history of the US occupation of Guantanamo is long, but it was after the 9/11 attacks that the bay gained more prominence for housing and guarding some of the most wanted terrorists in former President George W’s ‘Fight on Terror’. .bush.
However, subsequent governments in Washington softened their talk. Both current president Joe Biden and former president, also a Democrat, Barack Obama promised to close Guantánamo under their administrations, considering that the detention center undermined the leadership of the United States in the field of human rights. Obama managed to sign an executive order to end the detention center.
But his successor Donald Trump signed another executive order in 2018 to reverse Obama’s decision and keep Guantánamo open. According to the Republican, terrorists should be treated as such and ending prison was a sign of weakness for him. What should be the balance between the war against terrorism under which the prison was inaugurated and the human rights of the detainees? We discuss it with our guests:
– Eric Rojo, retired US Army colonel and expert on military and national security issues.
– César Muñoz, associate director of the Latin America and Caribbean department at Human Rights Watch.
