2003_04/CubaNews 4/3/03 10:23 AM Page 1 Vol. 11, No. 4 April 2003 www.cubanews.com In the News Plight of 650 ‘detainees’ at Guantánamo SPECIAL REPORT: GITMO AT 100 sparks debate over future of naval base Is the U.S. base at Guantánamo becoming BY LARRY LUXNER diers engaged in a top-secret training exercise. McQueen proudly showed us a heavy metal a permanent penal colony? ......Pages 1-3 elcome to Camp Delta,” said U.S. Army Col. Adolph McQueen, as he cheerful- mesh “detention unit” measuring 8 feet long, 7 W ly greeted two reporters at the outer feet wide and 8 feet high. These units consist of OFAC revises rules gates of the prison camp housing 650 unhappy a metal bed frame raised off the floor, a Turkish Treasury Department updates Cuba trav- captives of America’s war on terrorism. toilet and a stainless-steel sink — “lower to the ground to help accommodate foot-washing for el, remittance regulations .............Page 4 The bright blue waters of the Caribbean beck- oned just beyond the prison’s edge, yet once Muslim prayer needs,” according to a fact sheet. inside Camp Delta, the only colors around were An arrow indelibly stenciled on each bed Market economics tan, beige and the camouflage green of the points the direction to Mecca and the exact dis- Cuba’s fresh-produce system is more cap- guards’ uniforms and M-16 rifles. tance to Islam’s holiest city: 12,793 kilometers. It’s not clear if Camp Delta’s inmates know italist than you think .....................Page 6 Occasionally, we’d see a few bearded inmates in their orange jumpsuits and black prayer caps, they’re at the U.S. Naval Base in Guantánamo being escorted from one place to another. Bay, Cuba, but one thing is certain: unless they Council of State All 650 of these “unlawful enemy combatants” cooperate with their interrogators, they won’t be A look at the 31 members of Cuba’s top are alleged to be members of the Taliban or getting out of here anytime soon. al-Qaeda. Yet unlike POWs, none have access to “Every detainee in this camp is a threat to the decision-making authority ............Page 7 lawyers, nor have any been formally charged. United States,” declared Maj. Gen. Geoffrey “We leave this block empty so we can refine Miller, commander of Joint Task Force Guantá- Newsmakers our training techniques,” explained McQueen of namo, in an interview with CubaNews. “We have Bill Delahunt of Massachusetts leads Detroit, as he dispersed a group of 15 or 20 sol- See Gitmo, page 2 Democrats’ efforts in House of Represen- tatives to relax Cuba policy ..........Page 8 Senate creates Cuba Working Group as Saddam & Fidel Castro crackdown endangers relations Honeymoon long over between two Third World comrades ...........................Page 10 BY LARRY LUXNER to democracy and a market-oriented economy.” en U.S. lawmakers have formed a Senate Senators comprising the new group include Crabs to caviar Working Group on Cuba, vowing to “exa- Max Baucus (D-MT), Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Norm Coleman (R- Alimport buys frozen seafood from Cali- T mine U.S. policies, including trade and travel restrictions” — just as relations between MN), Byron Dorgan (D-ND), Michael Enzi (R- fornia export firm ........................Page 11 the two countries hit their lowest point in years. WY), Chuck Hagel (R-NE), Blanche Lincoln (D- In a Mar. 24 letter to Senate Majority Leader AR), Pat Roberts (R-KS) and Jim Talent (R-MO). Business briefs Bill Frist (R-TN) and Minority Leader Tom With the birth of the Senate Working Group Daschle (D-SD), the group — consisting of five on Cuba, both chambers of Congress now have Brazil’s Petrobrás returns to Cuba; Sher- Democrats and five Republicans — claimed that groups committed to a new approach to U.S. pol- ritt haggles over taxes ................Page 12 Washington’s Cuba policy “has been ineffective” icy toward Cuba. In the House of Representa- ever since its adoption in 1962. tives, the Cuba Working Group — formed a year Provinces: Camagüey “Other nations trade with Cuba, and their pro- ago — already has 50 members (see box, page 9). ducers benefit from that trade, while U.S. policy Yet the Senate’s conciliatory moves toward Cuba’s largest province dominates sugar, places our farmers, workers and companies at a the Castro regime are being overshadowed by other domestic industries ...........Page 14 competitive disadvantage,” the letter said. Cuba’s increasing harassment of U.S. diplomats “It also hinders our ability to interact with the and the recent jailing of 78 dissidents, indepen- CubaNews (ISSN 1073-7715) is published monthly Cuban people by restricting our right to travel to dent journalists, librarians and leaders of pro- by Luxner News Inc. © 2003. All rights reserved. Cuba. We believe the American people can have democracy groups who’ve met with Jim Cason, Subscriptions: $429/year. For subscription or edito- greater influence on Cuban society by develop- chief of the U.S. Interests Section in Havana. rial inquiries, call toll-free (800) 365-1997, send a fax After the arrests, Cuban TV accused Cason of to (301) 365-1829 or e-mail us at [email protected]. ing a relationship with the Cuban people. That is the only way to influence the peaceful transition See Crackdown, page 7 2003_04/CubaNews 4/3/03 10:23 AM Page 2 2 CubaNews ❖ April 2003 — FROM PAGE 1 national territory to the U.S. It was perpetual, Gitmo and without any effective limitation.” already exploited quite a bit of intelligence. Since 1959, Fidel Castro has refused to We are in the business of looking for golden deposit the annual $4,085 checks sent by the threads and links, and every day we get some- U.S. Treasury, insisting that doing so would LARRY LUXNER thing new.” indicate acceptance of U.S. sovereignty. As the base long known as Gitmo marks its But over time, argued Muse, the Cubans 100th anniversary this year, critics warn that themselves “have become complicit in U.S. it may become a permanent dumping ground sovereignty over the base,” weakening any for anyone the Bush administration wishes to future claim Cuba might have on Gitmo. permanently deprive of judicial review. In the mid-1990s, more than 45,000 Cuban “The United States has devised a criminal and Haitian refugees were intercepted on the jurisdiction whereby we can lease property high seas and brought to Gitmo for incarcera- anywhere in the world and create a Devil’s tion before being resettled in the U.S. or sent Island where individuals have no access to back home. Yet such activities, said Muse, the U.S. court system to determine whether were clearly “inconsistent with the use of the they’re being held legally,” charged Bill But- base as a coaling or naval facility.” ler, chairman emeritus of the International In January 2002, he said, the U.S. began Commission of Jurists. transporting prisoners to Cuba, “including Added human-rights attorney Michael Rat- Kuwaitis who claim to have been in Afgha- ner, president of the Center for Constitutional nistan under the auspices of Muslim charities and Pakistanis who McDonald’s at Gitmo is the only one in Cuba. claim to have been abducted by North- “During the Cold War,” added the former ern Alliance war- diplomat, “no American president could con- lords and sold into sider returning the base to Cuban control, LARRY LUXNER captivity.” given that Cuba was a Soviet military ally. But At that time, the with the Cold War over, the principal reason Castro government for hanging onto Gitmo disappears. The base — eager to show the is at this point of no real military use.” world it was partici- GITMO PART OF ‘WAR ON TERRORISM’ pating in the war on terrorism — issued Tell that to Capt. Bob Buehn, commanding a statement saying officer at the sprawling naval installation. that “although the “We will continue to maintain the lease transfer of foreign because the base is of value to us, particular- war prisoners by the ly with the JTF here,” he told CubaNews in an U.S. government interview. “It’s a key part of the global war on terrorism, and this mission would be difficult does not abide by to do anywhere else.” Soldiers belonging to South Carolina’s 132nd Military Police Company take the provisions that Buehn added: “One of our missions is for- a break from guard duty at Gitmo’s top-secret Camp Delta detention center. regulated its incep- ward presence, and if Roosevelt Roads Naval tion, we shall not set Base [in Puerto Rico] closes, that would leave Rights in New York: “From the U.S. point of any obstacles to the development of the oper- Guantánamo as the only U.S. base in the view, Guantánamo has a lot of advantages. It’s ation, and we are willing to cooperate.” Caribbean. We’d be the only game in town.” close to the United States, so they can send As a result, says Muse, “the U.S. [now] Buehn, whose tour of duty at Gitmo ended personnel back and forth all the time. exercises sufficient sovereignty over that ter- Mar. 27, says that despite war in Iraq and the “Unlike military bases in other countries, ritory for constitutional protections to apply.” presence of 650 possibly dangerous men from the U.S. has complete jurisdiction. There’s no Wayne Smith, a senior fellow at the Center 42 countries at Camp Delta, he’s seen little other lease like that, and there’s no access by for International Policy and former chief of tension between the U.S.