Friday, April 29

Guantanamo? No, it is not closed.


The last news you heard is that Guantanamo was closed? At the beginning of last year they said so but strangely enough there are still people there.
I watched the movie "The Road to Guantanamo" today and I realized how little I knew about what really happened in Guantanamo.
"Shut up, shut up! You are now the property of the U.S. Marine Corps! This is your final destination." a voice shouts.
Property! Yes, that's the way they treated those who have nothing of that important to say, to confess people who are not important.
Funny because among those who mistreated them there were those who are from the lowest enlisted rank who are also not well treated.
"Despite international criticism, America insists the conditions are humane."
And now?
According to Humans Right Watch:

"(Washington, DC) - A new Obama administration executive order pertaining to Guantanamo detainees held under purported "law-of-war" detention provides an additional layer of review not previously available. However, the order also continues the practice of indefinite detention without trial, a practice that violates international law, Human Rights Watch said today." (keep reading)
"Currently, 172 detainees are imprisoned at Guantanamo. The Obama administration has slated 47 for indefinite detention without trial and another 36 for prosecution, and has cleared the remaining 89 for transfer. " (keep reading)
I'm listening and reading people saying this and that. Still don't know what is really happening at Guantanamo now but, of course, nothing is similar to that time. All I know is that it is not closed.
I good example was lost. If Guantanamo was closed it would be a sign that those days are over and justice would be promoted in another way. But they didn't close Guantanamo.
Update April, 30: Wikileaks published some documents but I didn't want to read because it changes nothing. At Protesilaous Stavrou blog you'll find a good analysis of what they published and also about Guantanamo.


Guantanamo torture will NEVER be forgotten
Update: January, 11, 2012
This is the date that marks the tenth year of Guantanamo, remember it is in Cuba, as a prison where 171 detainees are being held.
It is not a surprise and the question when will it be closed is no longer that important since US government is acting like an authoritarian regime and the world is on the verge of a war, a world war.
US is under martial law, many crimes against humanity were committed in 2011, and, to make things more macabre, the president and the secretary of state have commented on some of them with a smile on their faces and sarcasm.
A huge change is necessary in US but how will it be done? When?