Information Pamphlet PICTURE PROJECTS© March 2013 Guantánamo Public Memory Project The Guantánamo Public Memory Project seeks to build public awareness of the long history of the US naval station at Guantánamo, Bay, Cuba from multiple perspectives and to foster dialogue on the future of this place, its people, and the policies it shapes.

eginning with the presidency of Thomas Jefferson, American Bpoliticians routinely argued for the purchase or annexation of Cuba from Spain. Geographically, Cuba was vital to SHAPING AN EMPIRE protecting the trade of American goods via the Mississippi River. Cuba’s sugar economy also encouraged planters in the American South to see the island’s slave WHAT ARE THE owners as allies in their own efforts to resist the growing movement for abolition. In the tense decades before the Civil War, calls for annexation, with Cuba joining the CONSEQUENCES OF United States as a slave state, grew more fervent.

SHAPE THE DEBATE GLOBAL EXPANSION? Is the US an empire today?

VOTE Yes or No by texting GITMO#3 to 41411. SMS See your comments shape the debate.

When Cuban insurgents began fighting against Spanish colonial rule in 1868, many Americans openly embraced calls for “Cuba Libre,” and welcomed exiles such as José Martí as freedom fighters. When the fight for Cuban independence resumed in 1895, however, Americans

were divided as to whether their

Cuba ought to be free impending intervention in the conflict represented a humanitarian mission or and independent,“ and a prelude to annexation. Bolstered by a “ rabid press calling for American men to the government should defend and rescue Cuba from Spanish brutality, at the same time American imperialists openly questioned whether be turned over to the Afro Cubans and racially mixed Cubans, who were key members of the insurgency, Cuban people. were capable of governing independently.

- William McKinley, 1898 Shortly after the United States declared war on Spain, American forces occupied Guantánamo Bay. Peace negotiations at the end of the war found Spain surrendering to the United States rather than to revolutionary forces

New York from its former colony. Cuba was left In 1897, the tabloid publicized of the story Journal extremely vulnerable to further American of Evangelina Cisneros, a Cuban insurgent renowned for manipulation in its economy and politics, her beauty and imprisoned by Spanish authorities. Audiences as subsequent treaties would prove. were captivated and decried Spain’s brutality, helping to Staged at the start of the War of 1898, Guerin’s l present American involvement photograph depicts a Confederate and a Union officer Victor Gillam, “The White Man’s Burden,” Judge, 1899. ’ in the conflict as a chivalrous liberating Cuba, represented by a white girl. White duty. Americans celebrated the conflict as an occasion to hea Alluding to Rudyard Kipling’s poem, “The White Man’s sectional differences while demonstrating the United Burden,” the cartoon above depicts the United Statesat States’ new global power. ibrary of Congress. imperialist expansion as an anxious and fraught

journey. Uncle Sam, following in John Bull’s footsteps, Fritz Guerin, “United in Defense of ‘Little Cuba’”, 1898. Courtesy L carries Filipinos and Cubans over the rocky terrain th comprises the path toward civilization. 1923 OUR POINT OF VIEW Evanglina Cisneros. From George Clarke Musgrave, Under Three Flags in Cuba: A Personal Account of the OJECTS, INC. Cuban Insurrection and the Spanish-American War (Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1899). Courtesy New We are interested in how the premises that spurred US York Public Library. involvement in Cuba in 1898—from gendered narratives of 1899 rescue to claims about the fitness of certain people to govern A coveted commodity, CREATIVE: PICTURE PR 1898 sugarcane grown in the themselves, to economic motives—still shape how Americans 1897 Caribbean integrated the rationalize military interventions today. region into the global economy following European colonization. Sugar interests - Rutgers University, New Brunswick drove the United States’ involvement in Cuba. By 1923, Americans had 500 million dollars invested in Cuban sugar production, primarily in the Oriente province, where Guantánamo Bay is located.

HEAR real stories SEE more images ngress.

GO deeper Capture of the Fort at Malate, 1898, Courtesy Library of Co Harvesting Sugarcane in Cuba, c. 1940. Courtesy ate by Filipino insurgents Library of Congress. gitmomemory.org/p3 to end Spanish colonial The capture of the fort at Mal ing of the American flag, and American soldiers helped ver Filipino independence rule in the Philippines. The rais uld follow. however, foreshadows the war o between the former allies that wo

2 How did we get to Gitmo?

“Guantánamo” has become an international symbol of America’s War on Terror, and a lightning rod for debates about torture, detention, national security, and human rights. But the US naval station at Guantánamo Bay—also known by its military acronym “GTMO” or its nickname, “Gitmo”—was part of American politics and policy for a century before 9-11. It has been used to shape American empire, confront Cold War conflicts, and shape new approaches to immigration and public health. It has been “closed” several times, only to be put to new use. Long before the first enemy combatant arrived, thousands of others lived in this “legal black hole”—Caribbean refugees stranded there in tent cities; military families who remember it as a treasured American home; and scores of Cuban exiled workers cut off from their families across the fence line.

In 2012, students at 11 universities around the country asked: what can GTMO’s history tell us about what’s happening now—there, and here at home? They dug through historical and visual archives; talked to people who worked there, lived there, were detained there, or advocated for those who were; and explored how GTMO relates to issues, people, and places in their own communities. Each student team created one or two of the panels in this exhibit, sharing their discoveries—and the difficult questions they struggled with.

Now you can add your community’s voice to the national dialogue by hosting the exhibit, inviting your students to contribute public memory projects, hosting public dialogues, or joining the on-line discussion.

? 3 Exhibit Components Exhibit comprises 13 light-weight 70”x80” banners and:

UÊVideo testimonies: Over one hundred 3-5 minute audio portraits of people who experienced GTMO first-hand from diverse perspectives, including refugees held there, military children who grew up there, Cubans who worked there, and “enemy combatants.”

UÊ“Shape the Debate” text-message voting activity: opportunity to add your take to the growing national dialogue and see your feedback shape the debate on exhibit monitors.

UÊMobile multimedia: access video testimonies and deeper digital content through your smart phone.

Additional Resources

UÊWeb platform: at www.gitmomemory.org, including interactive map, blog, and timeline.

UÊTeaching resources: curriculum and extensive resource library with primary and secondary sources, including documents, images, and video footage.

UÊDialogue kits: detailed discussion guides for you to host conversations about GTMO and the questions it raises in your own communities.

UÊSpeakers’ bureau: list of experts – from scholars to people with direct experience – on a diversity of issues.

UÊOpportunity to engage students and communities by creating their own public memory projects or participating in on line discussions. 4 Exhibit comprises thirteen 70”x 80” banners each with the following components:

CUBAN BALSEROS AT GTMO n August 1994, when President Castro lifted an emigration ban, thousands of ICubans set to sea, many on makeshift BIG QUESTION SAFE HAVEN OR rafts. These “rafters”, or balseros, fled extreme food rationing, rampant power the larger issue shortages, and the political repression students grappled of Cuba’s post-Soviet “Special Period in

PRISON CAMP? Peacetime.” with when studying Fearing an immigration crisis, this history President Clinton reversed US policy of automatically granting Cubans who left “ the island asylum. He ordered the Coast Guard to intercept and send approximately

32,000 Cubans to the “safe haven” of It was worth it...to have a GTMO.

new life. GTMO officials first told balseros they “ “ would never enter the US, but did - Conrado Basulto, balsero not explain how long they would be held or where they would go. Already overwhelmed by thousands of Haitians detained at GTMO, US military personnel It felt like a prison. struggled to accommodate the Cubans. Many balseros suffered extreme heat, “ - Sergio Lastres, balsero hunger, violence, and acute boredom during their detainment.

SHAPE THE DEBATE Should the government use GTMO for refugees in the future? SMS QUESTION

SMS VOTE Yes or No by texting GITMO#8 to 41411. Visitors are invited to See your comments shape the debate. vote and comment But conditions gradually improved, and with help from aid agencies, balseros via text message on created a vibrant community that included art galleries, newspapers, and a radio a current debate station. GTMO’s history raises. Ultimately, the US government admitted Votes and comments most balseros within a year of their arrival at GTMO. This stood in stark contrast to are continually the treatment of Haitians detained there, the majority of whom were returned to a updated and shown in volatile Haiti. an exhibit monitor The last balsera left GTMO on January September 1, 1994. Courtesy Corbis. December 30, 1994. Courtesy The Miami Herald. Courtesy Elizabeth Campisi. 31, 1996. But the base continues to hold On August 19, 1994, President Clinton announced: “The All aspects of life at Guantánamo were uncertain, from the people leaving Cuba will not be permitted to come to citizenship status of those born there to medical care. One handfuls of Cuban refugees captured at the United States. They will be sent to a safe haven.” balsera remembers, “for many months there the people This policy reversal left many balseros frustrated with thought that we were going to die there…that nobody in the sea—the current “wet-foot/dry-foot” policy the lack of information, inspiring protests against their world was going to find out about us.” seemingly indefinite detention. only grants asylum to Cubans who make it to US soil. Recently improved facilities CREATIVE: PICTURE PROJECTS, INC. Photo: CREATIVE: now stand ready to house potential future refugees. 1994 1995 TIMELINE OUR POINT OF VIEW

Approximately 2,500 balsero As students living in a city charged with post-9-11 memories, we children passed through OUR POINT OF VIEW are grateful to the Cuban balseros for offering a glimpse of pre-9- GTMO, each identified with an ankle bracelet. It was not 11 Guantánamo and sharing their stories of the community that QR CODE always fun and games; one emerged behind barbed wire. Students share “where twelve-year-old girl told a HEAR real stories psychiatrist working at GTMO, - New York University SEE more images “I am already crazy. The only Visitors scan with thing I see is barbed wire they’re coming from” GO deeper everywhere and this terrifies gitmomemory.org/p8 me.” their smartphone c. 1995. Courtesy Aurora de Armendi. and how their back- Aurora De Armendi was 14 when Clinton announced to access video in 1995 that all remaining balseros would be allowed into the US, and recalls the increased liberties they grounds framed their were given: swimming in the bay, fishing, and limited, supervised, exploration outside the camps. During this November 24, 1994. Courtesy The Miami Herald. testimonies and time, balseros built strong community, including with approach the military. 5 other additional content Sample exhibit banners:

SHAPING AN EMPIRE GUANTÁNAMO HITS HOME

eginning with the presidency of n 2001 Adnan Latif, a Yemini citizen, Thomas Jefferson, American traveled to Afghanistan seeking medical WHAT ARE THE Bpoliticians routinely argued for HOW HAS GTMO Iattention and found himself in the the purchase or annexation of Cuba from wrong place at the wrong time. Arrested Spain. Geographically, Cuba was vital to and imprisoned in GTMO, he was never protecting the trade of American goods charged with a crime. A judge ordered CONSEQUENCES OF via the Mississippi River. Cuba’s sugar his release in 2010. That decision was economy also encouraged planters in the AFFECTED AMERICA’S overturned a year later. Latif died in GTMO American South to see the island’s slave in September 2012 after years of solitary owners as allies in their own efforts to confinement, hunger strikes, and suicide resist the growing movement for abolition. attempts. GLOBAL EXPANSION? In the tense decades before the Civil War, LAWS AND VALUES? calls for annexation, with Cuba joining the Ever since suspected terrorists were United States as a slave state, grew more declared “enemy combatants” and fervent. imprisoned at GTMO, the government has argued that the Constitution does not SHAPE THE DEBATE apply to them.

Is the US an empire today? Initially, the Bush Administration denied detainees the right of habeas corpus: the

SMS VOTE Yes or No by texting GITMO#3 to 41411. constitutional right to challenge in court See your comments shape the debate. the lawfulness of their imprisonment.

In 2008 the Supreme Court held in When Cuban insurgents began fighting Boumediene v. Bush that detainees do

against Spanish colonial rule in 1868, “ have that right, confirming that at least Cuba ought to be free many Americans openly embraced calls It must be against some some portions of the Constitution apply

for “Cuba Libre,” and welcomed exiles at GTMO. The Obama administration no “ and independent, and such as José Martí as freedom fighters. “ law for you to do this to longer uses the term “enemy combatants.” “ When the fight for Cuban independence Nevertheless, it continues to argue that the government should resumed in 1895, however, Americans me. some GTMO detainees may be held were divided as to whether their indefinitely. be turned over to the impending intervention in the conflict - Adama Bah, falsely represented a humanitarian mission or accused of terrorist Federal prisons, like the one in Terre Cuban people. a prelude to annexation. Bolstered by a Haute, Indiana, hold individuals convicted rabid press calling for American men to activities of terrorist acts. These terrorists, like the - William McKinley, 1898 defend and rescue Cuba from Spanish 1993 World Trade Center bombers and brutality, at the same time American Timothy McVeigh, have stood trial and imperialists openly questioned whether been convicted in US courts. Despite Afro Cubans and racially mixed Cubans, this record, some GTMO detainees face who were key members of the insurgency, military trials, which have fewer fairness were capable of governing independently. protections than our criminal justice system. After representing detainees at Shortly after the United States declared GTMO, Indiana Supreme Court Justice In 1897, the tabloid New York war on Spain, American forces occupied Steven David protested military trials, Journal publicized of the story of Evangelina Cisneros, a Guantánamo Bay. Peace negotiations stating, “Our Constitution is not a Cuban insurgent renowned for her beauty and imprisoned by at the end of the war found Spain handicap in the War on Terrorism.” Spanish authorities. Audiences were captivated and decried surrendering to the United States Spain’s brutality, helping to present American involvement rather than to revolutionary forces Have the events at GTMO hit home for in the conflict as a chivalrous duty. from its former colony. Cuba was left you? Victor Gillam, “The White Man’s Burden,” Judge, 1899. extremely vulnerable to further American Courtesy the US Geological Survey. The Pentagon, Washington DC, September 12, 2011. Courtesy the National Archives. The Pentagon, Washington Alluding to Rudyard Kipling’s poem, “The White Man’s manipulation in its economy and politics, The federal prison in Terre Haute, Indiana was suggested Burden,” the cartoon above depicts the United States’ Staged at the start of the War of 1898, Guerin’s as a site for detainees if GTMO closed. State legislators imperialist expansion as an anxious and fraught photograph depicts a Confederate and a Union officer as subsequent treaties would prove. protested, fearing it could make Indiana a terrorist journey. Uncle Sam, following in John Bull’s footsteps, liberating Cuba, represented by a white girl. White target. The prison also houses a Communications carries Filipinos and Cubans over the rocky terrain that Management Unit (CMU). Many of the inmates in this Evanglina Cisneros. From George Clarke Musgrave, Americans celebrated the conflict as an occasion to heal Under Three Flags in Cuba: A Personal Account of the comprises the path toward civilization. sectional differences while demonstrating the United unit were convicted of terrorism-related offenses. CMU Cuban Insurrection and the Spanish-American War inmates—the majority of whom are Muslim—nicknamed (Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1899). Courtesy New States’ new global power. York Public Library. the unit “Little Gitmo.”

CREATIVE: PICTURE PROJECTS, INC. CREATIVE: Fritz Guerin, “United in Defense of ‘Little Cuba’”, 1898. Courtesy Library of Congress. PICTURE PROJECTS, INC. Photo: CREATIVE:

1897 1898 1899 1923 2001 2005 2006 2010 OUR POINT OF VIEW OUR POINT OF VIEW

A coveted commodity, We are interested in how the premises that spurred US We write as digital natives and students of history and culture. sugarcane grown in the Caribbean integrated the involvement in Cuba in 1898—from gendered narratives of We have grown up during the War on Terror, and we run the region into the global rescue to claims about the fitness of certain people to govern risk—just like you—of being incriminated by mere assertion and economy following European themselves, to economic motives—still shape how Americans association. We believe that the legacy of Guantánamo matters colonization. Sugar interests rationalize military interventions today. and we believe it matters now. HEAR real stories drove the United States’ HEAR real stories SEE more images involvement in Cuba. By 1923, SEE more images Americans had 500 million - Rutgers University, New Brunswick - Indiana University—Purdue University Indianapolis GO deeper dollars invested in Cuban GO deeper gitmomemory.org/p3 sugar production, primarily in gitmomemory.org/p10 the Oriente province, where Capture of the Fort at Malate, 1898, Courtesy Library of Congress. Guantánamo Bay is located. © Lyric R. Cabral. Courtesy the Transportation Security Administration.

The capture of the fort at Malate by Filipino insurgents In 2005, 16-year-old Muslim immigrant Adama Bah We experience the trade-offs between security and civil and American soldiers helped to end Spanish colonial (pictured with her sister, Mariama) was imprisoned liberties every time we go to the airport. Since 2001 the rule in the Philippines. The raising of the American flag, for six weeks in Pennsylvania. Government agents No-Fly list has barred people, including many Muslims, however, foreshadows the war over Filipino independence seized her from her New York home and identified her from air travel. between the former allies that would follow. as a potential suicide bomber. She would fight these Harvesting Sugarcane in Cuba, c. 1940. Courtesy allegations until 2007. The government never produced Library of Congress. evidence against her.

SHAPING AN EMPIRE GUANTÁNAMO’S LEGAL BLACK HOLE CONSTRUCTING GTMO BEHIND THE CACTUS CURTAIN HAITIANS AND GTMO CUBAN BALSEROS AT GTMO THE STATE OF DETENTION GUANTÁNAMO HITS HOME ARTS OF DETENTION PRESERVING MEMORIES OF THOSE WHO CALLED CLOSING GUANTÁNAMO n August 1994, when President Castro “ uantánamo” has he youngest was only thirteen, ocating GTMO is more than eginning with the presidency of he idea that GTMO is a “legal black amed “Puerto Grande” by espite Cold War tensions, GTMO eginning in 1991, over 32,000 men, lifted an emigration ban, thousands of n 2001 Adnan Latif, a Yemini citizen, or the people detained at GTMO, GTMO HOME he preservation of memory creates n 1993, Guantánamo was “closed” by a the oldest ninety-eight. Captured become an international pinpointing it on a map. It means Thomas Jefferson, American hole” stems from the wording of Christopher Columbus in 1494, felt like a dream for military women and children fled Haiti in Cubans set to sea, many on makeshift traveled to Afghanistan seeking medical whether as refugees or “enemy figurative communities that US District Court to release HIV-positive identifying its multiple, overlapping politicians routinely argued for the agreements that granted the Guantánamo Bay was seen by dependents—a little slice of makeshift boats. Many were pro- I in the “War on Terror,” they were attention and found himself in the combatants”, art has been a way to connect individuals with common Haitian refugees detained there. In 1996 symbol of America’s WHAT ARE THE B N D WHO IS A REFUGEE? rafts. These “rafters”, or balseros, fled IS THE US SACRIFICING T HOW HAS GTMO I WHAT DOES ART F T HOW DO POLICIES HOW DO B sent to GTMO, a place beyond the normal express their diverse experiences. The I T SAFE HAVEN OR wrong place at the wrong time. Arrested experiences, whether or not they knew L Europeans as an ideal natural port, yet it WHERE IS the purchase or annexation of Cuba from WHO DECIDES WHAT LAWS APPLY America where families watched movies G and ambiguous associations. As the United States the lands for the base after democracy activists seeking refuge after a extreme food rationing, rampant power it was “closed” again when the last of WHY War on Terror, and a lightning protections of US law. Besides the location imagery from the Haitian, Cuban, and and imprisoned in GTMO, he was never each other or experienced those memories venue for a US detention center for 779 Spain. Geographically, Cuba was vital to the War of 1898. The Platt Amendment, was never developed. This changed in the under the stars and frolicked on white, military dictatorship overthrew President shortages, and the political repression 32,000 Cuban refugees held there gained individuals from 39 countries captured protecting the trade of American goods passed by Congress in 1901, illustrated 19th century when the US Navy defined sandy beaches. While splashing in the Aristide. Intercepted by the US Coast of their detainment, what these 779 people charged with a crime. A judge ordered post-9-11 periods offers testimony to the HOW DO MEMORIES at the same time. Residents of the US entrance to the US. Six years later, Camp rod for debates about torture, of Cuba’s post-Soviet “Special Period in via the Mississippi River. Cuba’s sugar the Caribbean as “America’s lake”—vital had in common was their classification his release in 2010. That decision was range of circumstances and emotions, Naval Base at Guantánamo Bay from the detention, national security, in the War on Terror, GTMO may be most CONSEQUENCES OF the reluctance of the US to grant newly- bay’s warm waters, one might notice in the Guard, they came to crowded camps Peacetime.” X-Ray, built to discipline refugees, was economy also encouraged planters in the for defense and economic interests. In as a new category of prisoner. First overturned a year later. Latif died in GTMO REVEAL ABOUT GTMO? from the trauma of perilous journeys 1950s to the present, regardless of their

GUANTÁNAMO? widely associated around the globe as a IN A STATE OF independent Cuba full sovereignty. The BUILD PLACES? INTERNATIONAL distance a lush border of palm trees and WHAT MAKES A surrounded by barbed wire at GTMO to PRISON CAMP? CIVIL LIBERTIES TO AFFECTED AMERICA’S GTMO’S FUTURE? repurposed for the first enemy combatants and human rights. But the US American South to see the island’s slave 1900 the Navy listed Guantánamo Bay called “enemy combatants” and later in September 2012 after years of solitary to yearning for homes left behind and status as military personnel, dependents, GUANTÁNAMO? site of struggle over questions of human Platt Amendment stipulated that the US a barrier known as the “cactus curtain”— pre-screen their asylum claims. Fearing an immigration crisis, in the “war on terror.” Protests against the

naval station at Guantánamo rights and security. Understanding why owners as allies in their own efforts to maintained the right to intervene militarily as its top choice for a Caribbean station. an expanse of land mines and cacti that The Immigration and Naturalization simply “detainees,” they were denied confinement, hunger strikes, and suicide dreams of the future. The context of OF GTMO SURVIVE? contractors, Americans, Cubans, or one of detention and treatment of “detainees” President Clinton reversed US policy of resist the growing movement for abolition. Construction on the naval station at POW status and the corresponding rights attempts. art production varied as well. While art many other ethnically diverse identities, this particular site was selected to house in Cuba, “for the preservation of Cuban separated communist Cuba from the Service classified most Haitians in GTMO automatically granting Cubans who left have erupted ever since, resulting in Bay—also known by its guaranteed by the Geneva Convention, supplies were available to some through these detainees requires an understanding GLOBAL EXPANSION? In the tense decades before the Civil War, Guantánamo Bay began immediately American military installation. Cold War “ are a model of this type of community. EXCEPTION? independence.” A major factor leading to TENSIONS SHAPE REFUGE? as “economic migrants”. Despite the SECURE ITS SAFETY? LAWS AND VALUES? the still unfulfilled pledges by President the island asylum. He ordered the Coast

calls for annexation, with Cuba joining the after signing the 1903 lease with Cuba. As including protection from torture. The US Ever since suspected terrorists were donations or military programming, Their memories of GTMO bring them military acronym “GTMO” or of it as: the inclusion of this language was the US conflicts filled the salty air with a sense of political dangers at home, many were Guard to intercept and send approximately Obama to “close Guantánamo.” United States as a slave state, grew more the US focus shifted toward the Panama government has continued to argue that declared “enemy combatants” and others had to adapt found materials. together as one community with stories

its nickname, “Gitmo”—was government’s desire to protect American unease, reshaping relationships between quickly returned to Haiti. Others endured 32,000 Cubans to the “safe haven” of fervent. Canal, the installation remained a coaling it is engaged in a borderless war against imprisoned at GTMO, the government Within their makeshift tent cities, refugees of the base’s close-knit family atmosphere If it was up to me I would A natural harbor with favorable trade commercial interests—especially Cubans and Americans and threatening lengthy detention as they waited to learn if It was worth it...to have a GTMO. But what does “closing Guantánamo”

part of American politics and winds; investments in sugar—against Cuban labor station through the 1930s with only the the delicate political balance at GTMO. they could enter the US. undefined groups, and on that basis, it can has argued that the Constitution does not used canvas, bottles, melted plastic food and camaraderie, sunsets, iguanas, and really mean? Guantánamo has been both “ EVERYDAY LIVES?

minimum defenses for the United States indefinitely detain terrorism suspects who apply to them. containers, and other objects to create the commissary’s frozen milk. close Guantánamo a symptom and a symbol of relations policy for a century before 9-11. Guantánamo Bay is in SHAPE THE DEBATE radicalism. The Cuban Assembly initially new life. GTMO officials first told balseros they “ A port in the former colony of Spain, to maintain possession. A gate divided GTMO from Cuba—a stark “ “ are captured far from any battlefield. their art. These works show alternative

refused to accept the Platt Amendment as US courts declared that Haitians detained would never enter the US, but did between Cuba and the US, and “closing” It has had very deep, and very which lost the Spanish-American War to Is the US an empire today? Initially, the Bush Administration denied narratives of GTMO’s history viewed part of the treaty between the two nations, symbol of tensions between the two at GTMO had “no substantive rights” - Conrado Basulto, balsero not explain how long they would be SHAPE THE DEBATE not tomorrow but this means different things in each country.

different, personal meanings. every practical respect a the United States; but subsequently relented in exchange SHAPE THE DEBATE nations. After Fidel Castro led a revolution under law, but Haitian detainees fought to In a way, Guantánamo is one piece of a detainees the right of habeas corpus: the together for the first time. US efforts to close Guantánamo usually “ “

held or where they would go. Already Should the memories of past residents be part of VOTE Yes or No by texting GITMO#3 to 41411. larger US prison system—a system with constitutional right to challenge in court And it has been “closed” SMS for a favorable export agreement with that, in 1959, toppled Cuba’s dictatorship, improve camp conditions and asserted the overwhelmed by thousands of Haitians It was a way to escape refer to the detention centers. The Cuban See your comments shape the debate. We must occupy a As foreign policies change, should the United States over two million people serving time the lawfulness of their imprisonment. the current dialogue on GTMO? afternoon…it’s causing United States territory. A Cuban sovereign territory over which the United States and the withdrawal of Cubans who traveled to work at GTMO urgent need for due process. Protesters “ government calls for closing the entire

several times, only to be put They can’t get in. They maintain permanent foreign bases? detained at GTMO, US military personnel

the US has “complete jurisdiction and American troops. were expected to remain loyal to Castro I could not continue to were punished with solitary confinement behind bars. But unlike prison inmates In 2008 the Supreme Court held in naval station. Fidel Castro has repeatedly It felt like a prison. struggled to accommodate the Cubans. “ it all—the stress, the VOTE Yes or No by texting GITMO#12 to 41411. to new use. How was GTMO - Justice David Kennedy, Concurrence, control” through a lease valid for as When Cuban insurgents began fighting preponderant position while being employed by a country and women were made to undergo in the US, the vast majority of GTMO Boumediene v. Bush that detainees do SMS us far more damage than

“ disputed the legality of its lease and

“ “

Many balseros suffered extreme heat, See your comments shape the debate.

long as the US maintains a naval base against Spanish colonial rule in 1868, “ can’t get out. They can’t VOTE Yes or No by texting GITMO#5 to 41411. increasingly seen as the enemy. Cubans live here anymore, nor... detainees were held but never charged, have that right, confirming that at least

used before? How does that Rasul v. Bush 2004 SHAPE THE DEBATE SMS “ humiliating physical examinations. “When hunger, violence, and acute boredom Prison is a still point in a It must be against some History has to be demanded that the US leave. there; Cuba ought to be free many Americans openly embraced calls See your comments shape the debate. Cubans were involved - Sergio Lastres, balsero tried, or sentenced. As of September 2012, some portions of the Constitution apply problems. The work allowed

in the waters and along served as maids and maintenance workers “ we protested,” one detainee recalled, “I “ any good we get from it.

history shape what could—and during their detainment. “

for “Cuba Libre,” and welcomed exiles get help, and now the Is the treaty leasing Guantánamo Bay just? on the base, making a comfortable go back to Haiti... That is was beaten...made to sleep on the ground 165 prisoners remain confined at GTMO— at GTMO. The Obama administration no “GTMOites,” as they call themselves, What are the different visions for the place and independent, and in every area of our turning world. indefinitely detained. law for you to do this to you to liberate yourself SHAPE THE DEBATE recorded…because how A home for 8,500 military personnel, as such as José Martí as freedom fighters. “ In the buildup to WWII, the Navy “ longer uses the term “enemy combatants.” maintain their community of memory at - Colin Powell, former US Secretary of

“ lifestyle possible for American families. “ “ should—happen next? the coasts in the region “ like animals, like dogs, not like humans.” if the station is ever closed? While serving “ SHAPE THE DEBATE well as civilians, family members, and When the fight for Cuban independence “ Nevertheless, it continues to argue that individual and group levels. Individually government is saying no SMS VOTE Yes or No by texting GITMO#4 to 41411. recognized GTMO’s value to Caribbean In exchange, these workers received why I started the hunger - Nelson Mandela, 1995 Has your image of Guantánamo changed as a result State, June 10, 2007 as defense minister, Raul Castro asserted

contract personnel; the government should resumed in 1895, however, Americans See your comments shape the debate. defense and expanded and modernized lives. We were equally better wages than in Cuba. While some me. some GTMO detainees may be held from your surroundings. of this art? will they know if we they create scrapbooks, read and write SHAPE THE DEBATE SHAPE THE DEBATE Should the government use GTMO for refugees in that after its eventual return to Cuba, south of us…so as indefinitely. books and articles, blog, and share were divided as to whether their court can review what’s naval and aviation facilities. The supported the revolution, life in Cuba the future? GTMO would be made into a museum. A strategic flashpoint during the Cold impending intervention in the conflict “ government allocated $34 million for could be harsh and restrictive, and strike. Should the US judge the quality of refugees it - Adama Bah, falsely - Carlos Aulet, Cuban artist detained stories with family. Within group settings Join communities across the country be turned over to the The Amendment also specified that the dependent upon one SMS VOTE Yes or No by texting GITMO#11 to 41411. don’t share our stories? Diverse US and international groups have TEXT War where US soldiers were stationed represented a humanitarian mission or to avoid any possible a new airfield and improved medical, admits? On what basis? SHAPE THE DEBATE Federal prisons, like the one in Terre See your comments shape the debate. they participate in reunions, maintain in dialogue on the tough questions ‘GITMO’ US would lease Cuban territory for the workers could face political consequences accused of terrorist at GTMO developed visions for the station’s future: a to Since it opened as a VOTE Yes or No by texting GITMO#8 to 41411. SWEDEN going on. - Elma Verdieu, former Haitian detainee, SMS 41411 detention center in 2002, on opposite sides of the fence line from a prelude to annexation. Bolstered by a recreational, and communication services. Haute, Indiana, hold individuals convicted memberships in Facebook and other GTMO poses to all of us. Text your RUSSIA at home, driving some to choose exile at See your comments shape the debate. - Jeanette Thacker Hanks, military hurricane evacuation center, an infectious CANADA Cuban people. establishment of naval coaling stations. Should GTMO detainees be tried in the same way GTMO has housed detainees activities DENMARK another. of terrorist acts. These terrorists, like the online networks, peruse yearbooks and BRITAIN far from the war zone and Cuban soldiers; rabid press calling for American men to GTMO operated as a hub for a convoy GTMO. explaining his resistance at court (Haitian response to questions on each BELGIUM complications in the VOTE Yes or No by texting GITMO#7 to 41411. disease research and education facility, a KAZAKHSTAN from countries across the This was formalized in the 1903 Cuban- SMS as people accused of crimes in the US? dependent, at GTMO from 1955 to 1962 FRANCE - Brandt Goldstein, describing Haitian In 2012, students at 11 universities around the BOSNIA & planet. defend and rescue Cuba from Spanish system to transport resources around the See your comments shape the debate. 1993 World Trade Center bombers and photos, and communicate via phone, panel. See your comments shape UNITED STATES HERZEGOVINA SPAIN AZERBAIJAN UZBEKISTAN American Treaty, which addressed the - Janet Miller, Memories of beach resort, an eco-tourism site, a world TURKMENISTAN - William McKinley, 1898 TURKEY Centers Council v. Sale), 1993 But conditions gradually improved, and TAJIKISTAN SYRIA IRAN A holding center for Haitian and Cuban brutality, at the same time American refugees detained at GTMO in the early Caribbean and eastern seaboard. After the Timothy McVeigh, have stood trial and email, and “snail mail.” the debate, here and at gitmomemory.org TUNISIA AFGHANISTAN country asked: what can GTMO’s history tell MOROCCO PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES SHAPE THE DEBATE diplomatic center. IRAQ CHINA boundaries of the American base at future. JORDAN with help from aid agencies, balseros VOTE Yes or No by texting GITMO#9 to 41411. KUWAIT PAKISTAN Guantánamo Bay, 1960-1962 ALGERIA LIBYA SMS been convicted in US courts. Despite BAHRAIN refugees in the 1990s; EGYPT imperialists openly questioned whether war, the Navy repaired roads, buildings, QATAR President George H.W. Bush responded See your comments shape the debate. us about what’s happening now—there, and UNITED ARAB EMIRATES 1990s (from Storming the Court) Guantánamo Bay and its governance. created a vibrant community that included GTMO SAUDI ARABIA BANGLADESH MAURITANIA Afro Cubans and racially mixed Cubans, and the dilapidated boundary fence Would you want to have lived at GTMO during the this record, some GTMO detainees face GTMOites remember and articulate their YEMEN - Theodore Roosevelt, 1903 to the crisis in May 1992 by ordering the Today, these are unrealized visions. CHAD According to Article III of the 1903 Treaty, SUDAN art galleries, newspapers, and a radio here at home? They dug through historical A prison for “enemy combatants.” who were key members of the insurgency, and built shopping centers, parks, and Cold War? military trials, which have fewer fairness time at the base in an overwhelmingly ETHIOPIA while “the United States recognizes Coast Guard to stop bringing Haitians to “Detainees” remain imprisoned; the US MALDIVES MALAYSIA station. and visual archives; talked to people who UGANDA SOMALIA were capable of governing independently. housing. protections than our criminal justice positive way. Many former residents NATIVE COUNTRIES KENYA INDONESIA the continuance of the ultimate sover- GTMO. The order returned all detainees military constructed new sites for possible TANZANIA VOTE Yes or No by texting GITMO#6 to 41411. system. After representing detainees at believe that their time at GTMO changed worked there, lived there, were detained OF DETAINEES HELD eignty of the Republic of Cuba…the SMS to Haiti but was criticized for violating Ultimately, the US government admitted future refugees. Can GTMO actually close? See your comments shape the debate. AT GTMO SINCE THE Courtesy Ariane Davisson. Shortly after the United States declared The Cuban Revolution, Bay of Pigs, and GTMO, Indiana Supreme Court Justice their lives and values by making them BEGINNING OF THE United States shall exercise complete the Geneva Conventions’ treatment of Who decides its future? there, or advocated for those who were; and most balseros within a year of their arrival After 9/11: The Numbers at GTMO In 1897, the tabloid New York war on Spain, American forces occupied Steven David protested military trials, The Guantánamo Bay more culturally aware, reducing their WAR ON TERROR AUSTRALIA Cuban Missile Crisis once again increased Journal publicized of the story Senator Henry Moore Teller jurisdiction and control.” The 1934 Treaty refugees. Two months later, about 250 at GTMO. This stood in stark contrast to 779 Men Have Been Detained Date the first detainees arrived at GTMO: January 11, 2002 Association brought photos, explored how GTMO relates to issues, people, of Evangelina Cisneros, a sponsored an amendment to 2006 stating, “Our Constitution is not a B scrapbooks, and other materialism, and increasing their Guantánamo Bay. Peace negotiations GTMO’s significance. Fidel Castro roused Americans and Cubans negotiated their at Guantánamo since 2002. Cuban insurgent renowned for the Declaration of War with of Relations between the US and Cuba HIV-positive Haitians remained. Through the treatment of Haitians detained there, 21 memorabilia to their 6th her beauty and imprisoned by Spain in 1898, forbidding the Annual Reunion in Pensacola appreciation of family and neighbors. and places in their own communities. Each at the end of the war found Spain Cuban discontent toward the US presence nations’ political strife in their everyday What Happened to Them? 55% handicap in the War on Terrorism.” SHAPE THE DEBATE Spanish authorities. Audiences annexation of Cuba at the hunger strikes and collaboration with Beach in October 2012. They SHAPE THE DEBATE Geography and history helped replaced sections of the controversial the majority of whom were returned to a 86% were captivated and decried end of the confrontation. The displayed these items on Whenever GTMOites get together, they determine GTMO’s selection as surrendering to the United States and argued that the lease was illegal. $70 million student team created one or two of the panels lives. Following the Cuban Missile Crisis human rights activists and lawyers, these A B C A C tables so that members Spain’s brutality, helping to amendment represented a Platt Amendment but reaffirmed the Indefinitely a detention center: in Cuba but volatile Haiti. $8 million Should GTMO be returned to Cuba? present American involvement short-lived departure from the Detained - 165 Have the events at GTMO hit home for could peruse each other’s share stories, talk about friends, show Should the US government continue to have voice leased to the US; as far from rather than to revolutionary forces Castro militarized the boundary fence and other flare-ups, GTMO became all (A) Louidue Benche, ‘Rescue by Sea’ #2. (A) Photographer unknown, Cuban Rafters 1996, Image 62. Courtesy the Caribbean Sea Migration Collection, in this exhibit, sharing their discoveries—and in the conflict as a chivalrous United States’ demands that it refugees gained entry to the US and won (B) Michelet Laurore, Haitian Boat People. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University. keepsakes and share stories Havana as from Florida; away Guantánamo Bay lease. Since the 1960s, Courtesy ACLU. (C) Michelet Laurore, Camp Bulkeley during Demo. © Carol Halebian. duty. you? (B) Bernardo Caballero Soler (Lele), Injust Sanction, Cuban Art: Hope From Guantánamo (1994 exhibit). behind them. pictures, and plan future reunion events, in shaping the future of Guantánamo Bay? from media and legal scrutiny. from its former colony. Cuba was left gain influence over the island. and planted an eight-mile long “Cactus the more insular. Even as boundaries (D) Artist Unknown, Haitian 1991, GTMO Museum. Courtesy Holly Ackerman. (C) Jenny Vegas Cordoba, US Flag Drawing GITMO. Courtesy Siro Del Castillo. Cuba has protested that the acquisition of a case to “close Guantánamo” in 1993. the difficult questions they struggled with. The last balsera left GTMO on January Courtesy the US Geological Survey. Few examples survive of Haitian artwork created during Cuban balseros began making art soon after their arrival Courtesy Kathy Toomey. Victor Gillam, “The White Man’s Burden,” Judge, 1899. Grocery shopping, early 1960s, Courtesy of Frances Matlock. Evacuation notice, 1962. Courtesy of Frances Matlock. Released Never Died in “…‘[E]nemy combatant’ has historically referred to all VOTE Yes or No by texting GITMO#2 to 41411. Courtesy Library of Congress. Interrogation Room, Guantánamo Bay Naval Base, 2010. Courtesy Christopher Sims. © Carol Halebian. Black and White Painting of Camp Bulkeley. Colin Annisser, and the process of meeting new people extremely vulnerable to further American September 1, 1994. Courtesy Corbis. DC, September 12, 2011. Courtesy the National Archives. The Pentagon, Washington Lighthouse, 2000s. Courtesy Shelby Rice. Miami Curtain.” In 1964 he cut off the water lines. © Carol Halebian. © Carol Halebian. December 30, 1994. Courtesy The Miami Herald. Charged with a Custody - 8 refugees’ times at GTMO, but the images we have convey at GTMO, initially with materials salvaged from their SMS Courtesy the United States Coast Guard. hardened, base workers and dependents of the citizens of a state with which the Nation is at war, © Carol Halebian. Courtesy Wikimedia Commons. But the government maintained its right Courtesy Elizabeth Campisi. Crime - 602 “Tents at the Haitian Refugee Camp”. Courtesy Merrill Smith. “Tents Serving

Guantánamo Bay violated international law. January 11, 2012. Courtesy Amnesty International. Photograph by Scott Langley, See your comments shape the debate. 31, 1996. But the base continues to hold and who are members of the armed force of that enemy The federal prison in Terre Haute, Indiana was suggested a vivid narrative of an often untold history. Artists, many surroundings. Unlike the Haitians, over time Cuban refugees Kathy Toomey and friends play in the schoolyard shared Alluding to Rudyard Kipling’s poem, “The White Man’s manipulation in its economy and politics, As America’s first foreign military installation, GTMO Even after the Revolution, approximately 2500 Cubans On October 22, 1962, the political storm surrounding GTMO Sentences - 4 and creating more bonds is in itself a VOTE Yes or No by texting GITMO#13 to 41411. In response, the Navy built an independent worked to preserve a sense of normality. Locals show reporters the site of a mass grave in Drawing on expertise gained in protesting the military On August 19, 1994, President Clinton announced: “The All aspects of life at Guantánamo were uncertain, from the state...Enemy combatants in the war on terrorism are as a site for detainees if GTMO closed. State legislators without formal training, utilized the materials around them received significant support, including art supplies, from between the base’s nursery and primary school in 1964. Burden,” the cartoon above depicts the United States’ Staged at the start of the War of 1898, Guerin’s served as an entrance to the Caribbean. To ensure commuted to GTMO for work each day. For some, GTMO finally struck. During the Cuban Missile Crisis, nearly 3,000 to hold refugees at GTMO indefinitely, How do you make yourself heard? From 1992-1993, In 2005, country star Toby Keith, a vocal proponent of SMS Port-au-Prince. Often persecution intensified after regime from which they fled, the Haitian refugees at people leaving Cuba will not be permitted to come to citizenship status of those born there to medical care. One handfuls of Cuban refugees captured at not defined by simple, readily apparent criteria, such protested, fearing it could make Indiana a terrorist to create sculptures, paintings, and murals representing the outside groups. Balseros opened galleries to display the The Navy would equip the playground with monkey See your comments shape the debate. imperialist expansion as an anxious and fraught photograph depicts a Confederate and a Union officer as subsequent treaties would prove. A United States Marine carries a refugee Haitian boy US regional dominance, Marines stabilized political was a safe haven from Castro; for others, working at American women and children evacuated on a moment’s method of perpetuating and sustaining ACT UP staged media-grabbing protests over Bush- the “war on terror,” viewed a memorial to US resistance water treatment plant, physically and detainees returned to Haiti. One girl, who fled after GTMO demonstrated against their indefinite detention. the United States. They will be sent to a safe haven.” balsera remembers, “for many months there the people as citizenship or military uniform. And the power to target. The prison also houses a Communications botpippel (Créole for Haitian boaters) experience: depictions work of artists of all ages and skill levels (C), and eventually bars, ten gallon drums, and pipes like these for the Havana journey. Uncle Sam, following in John Bull’s footsteps, liberating Cuba, represented by a white girl. White at GTMO. The detainment of Haitian refugees took unrest in Cuba (1906-1909), Haiti (1915-1934), and GTMO meant economic opportunity. After 1964, the US notice. They grabbed one suitcase and left everything else opening the camp for future uses. and Clinton-administration policies on Haitian refugees to Castro’s attempt to “close” the station, or impede This policy reversal left many balseros frustrated with thought that we were going to die there…that nobody in the sea—the current “wet-foot/dry-foot” policy name a citizen as an `enemy combatant’ is therefore of their harrowing experiences at sea (A,B), harsh treatment the military allowed a formal art program. The art expressed carries Filipinos and Cubans over the rocky terrain that Americans celebrated the conflict as an occasion to heal advantage of GTMO’s status as Cuban “sovereign” the Dominican Republic (1916-1924). Most military her parents were killed, was sent back to the care of Using signs, pamphlets, letters to Congress, and direct Management Unit (CMU). Many of the inmates in this children on the base to pass the time. their community of memory. fleeing political oppression. Their tactics involved its function, by severing its water supply in 1964. What Evanglina Cisneros. From George Clarke Musgrave, symbolically severing GTMO from Cuba. gave Cuban workers a stark choice: defect or be fired. behind, even their pets. the lack of information, inspiring protests against their world was going to find out about us.” (C), memorials to those lost along their journey, and homage protest about their treatment as well as narratives of resilience Table Display at the Guantánamo Bay Association comprises the path toward civilization. territory, and allowed the United States government to her grandmother in Haiti. She was killed the night she action, Haitians projected their voices to an international extraordinarily broad.” unit were convicted of terrorism-related offenses. CMU Reunion (photo by Martha Tye). disruptive occupation of public spaces to force the closing does this image say about US responses to Cuban CUBA Under Three Flags in Cuba: A Personal Account of the sectional differences while demonstrating the United personnel lived in permanent buildings or tents like the Most chose to go home, but several hundred chose seemingly indefinite detention. only grants asylum to Cubans who make Courtesy ACLU. to places left behind (D). (B) and allegories of freedom (A). Cuban Insurrection and the Spanish-American War Henry Moore Teller, c. 1902. Courtesy Library of initially deny asylum seekers due process since they were “Wham, just like that!—end of chapter of nine happy years returned. audience. -“Detention of Enemy Combatants Act,” 2005. inmates—the majority of whom are Muslim—nicknamed States’ new global power. Congress. ones seen here at Deer Point in 1911. exile—never going home again. of Camp Bulkeley, where nearly 300 HIV-positive Haitian claims to GTMO? (Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1899). Courtesy New the unit “Little Gitmo.” York Public Library. not on American soil. on a tropical isle.” -Sarahelen Work’s Christmas Letter, 1962 Courtesy ACLU. D refugees were housed under deplorable circumstances. CREATIVE: PICTURE PROJECTS, INC. Photo: Camp X-Ray, 2009. Courtesy Sean Galbraith. PICTURE PROJECTS, INC. Photo: Camp X-Ray, CREATIVE: CREATIVE: PICTURE PROJECTS, INC. Photo: Courtesy Secretary of Defense. CREATIVE: CREATIVE: PICTURE PROJECTS, INC. Photo: CREATIVE: PICTURE PROJECTS, INC. Photo: CREATIVE:

it to US soil. Recently improved facilities PICTURE PROJECTS, INC. Photo: CREATIVE: PICTURE PROJECTS, INC. Photo: CREATIVE:

GTMO PICTURE PROJECTS, INC. CREATIVE: Fritz Guerin, “United in Defense of ‘Little Cuba’”, 1898. Courtesy Library of Congress. CREATIVE: PICTURE PROJECTS, INC. Photo: US Navy Fleet in Guantánamo Bay, 1927. Courtesy Corbis. PICTURE PROJECTS, INC. Photo: US Navy Fleet in Guantánamo Bay, CREATIVE: CREATIVE: PICTURE PROJECTS, INC. Photo: Ships in GTMO harbor, 1960. Courtesy Hank Walker, Time Life Pictures, Getty Images. Time 1960. Courtesy Hank Walker, PICTURE PROJECTS, INC. Photo: Ships in GTMO harbor, CREATIVE: CREATIVE: PICTURE PROJECTS, INC. Photo: CREATIVE:

HAITI PICTURE PROJECTS, INC. Photo: CREATIVE: CREATIVE: PICTURE PROJECTS, INC. Photo: CREATIVE: CREATIVE: PICTURE PROJECTS, INC. Photo: Camp X-Ray, 2006. Courtesy Christopher Sims. PICTURE PROJECTS, INC. Photo: Camp X-Ray, CREATIVE: Port-au-Prince Courtesy Google Maps altered by Ariane Davisson. now stand ready to house potential future refugees. 2002 2005 2006 1991-3 1994-6 2009-11 THE CARIBBEAN 1897 1898 1899 1923 1911 1945 1963 1960 1961 1962 1966 2001 2005 2006 2010 1964 1969 2012 1898 1983 1991 2006 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1993 2005 2009 OUR POINT OF VIEW OUR POINT OF VIEW OUR POINT OF VIEW OUR POINT OF VIEW OUR POINT OF VIEW OUR POINT OF VIEW OUR POINT OF VIEW OUR POINT OF VIEW OUR POINT OF VIEW OUR POINT OF VIEW OUR POINT OF VIEW OUR POINT OF VIEW Side by side on its 45 square GTMO reaches people around the world, including the UMass A coveted commodity, We are interested in how the premises that spurred US Do good fences make good Despite having a steadily declining crime rate, the United States We write as digital natives and students of history and culture. After conducting over one hundred oral histories with former miles, GTMO has, over time, At the Arizona State University Public History Program, we Cuban base workers passing Starting this project, we never imagined the complexities we Approximately 2,500 balsero Although we are all American citizens living in the Midwest, we students who designed this panel: a former design student who sugarcane grown in the Cuban workers exit from the neighbors? The United Upon his arrival in 1992 as Sophomores at Brown University, we come from different As students living in a city charged with post-9-11 memories, we continues to have the highest incarceration rate in the world, and We have grown up during the War on Terror, and we run the been home to hundreds involvement in Cuba in 1898—from gendered narratives of We learned how the legal, political, and moral debates around started the project with different ideas of why GTMO matters. through the Northeast Gate on children passed through knew little about GTMO beyond stereotypical images of post-9-11 GTMO residents, many of whom now live in and around the We all recognized Guantánamo to be significant without Caribbean integrated the northeast gate of GTMO in States-built fence was poorly would uncover surrounding everyday relations between Cubans Commander of the Haitian are grateful to the Cuban balseros for offering a glimpse of pre-9- of facilities, including focused on prison design; a native New Yorker, Muslim-American; rescue to claims about the fitness of certain people to govern the recent controversial uses of GTMO relate back to how the a daily basis were subject to corners of the world; our diverse backgrounds helped us put the GTMO, each identified with California has consistently ranked in the top third of states with risk—just like you—of being incriminated by mere assertion and military community surrounding our university in Pensacola, understanding why. This project opened our eyes to injustice, region into the global 1983. The ambiguity of the maintained for decades, Our research reinforced and challenged our ideas about whether the whims of Cuban soldiers and Americans; we only knew of GTMO as a post-9-11 military refugee camps, Colonel 11 Guantánamo and sharing their stories of the community that detainees in orange jumpsuits. We found new connections through transportation hubs (blue), a former Foreign Service Officer; and an architecture student economy following European Stephen Kinder described US treatment of Haitians at GTMO into an international context. an ankle bracelet. It was not the highest prison population. As Californians, we thought it was association. We believe that the legacy of Guantánamo matters Florida, we were surprised to find that GTMO served as a A themselves, to economic motives—still shape how Americans base’s legal and political US acquired it. We’re shocked that so much importance has been allowing people, ammunition, the base’s recent use could be considered exceptional or on the other side of the the art and the insights it offers. The feelings and experiences of disempowerment, and marginalized people and histories. As military and community sites detention center. We hope this exhibit will inspire people to look always fun and games; one emerged behind barbed wire. B interested in preserving historic places of charged memories. As colonization. Sugar interests status affected labor practices and goods to cross. After the cactus curtain. Those caught GTMO as “a time bomb ready We used written sources and conversations with participants fitting to examine confinement both at GTMO and in our own and we believe it matters now. foundation for life-long friendships, and that many still consider HEAR real stories (yellow), historic landmarks rationalize military interventions today. placed on concepts of sovereignty, control, and jurisdiction, with inevitable. We concluded that the history of the base is more twelve-year-old girl told a HEAR real stories HEAR real stories HEAR real stories the artists led us to a greater appreciation for the complex history HEAR real stories students from a city with a large refugee population, we’ve a group, we are concerned with the human rights implications of a HEAR real stories drove the United States’ and the administration of HEAR real stories Cuban Revolution, Cubans smuggling goods into Cuba past the gates and see the people who lived both inside and to blow.” Supportive of Haitian state of detention. GO deeper on your smartphone. (green) and detention camps involvement in Cuba. By 1923, so little said about how the lease’s history caused these issues to HEAR real stories and eyewitnesses to create a people-centric narrative aimed at HEAR real stories psychiatrist working at GTMO, SEE more images the base their home. worked together to become more informed citizens, empowered SEE more images SEE more images HEAR real stories American and Cuban laws in reinforced the boundary with complex and significant than the current public debate suggests. risked harsh punishment, and outside of them. HEAR real stories detainees’ efforts to improve SEE more images SEE more images and human cost of GTMO. SEE more images HEAR real stories A (red). legally ambiguous space used to imprison individuals indefinitely. SEE more images SEE more images honoring the agency of the Haitians involved. “I am already crazy. The only - New York University - Indiana University—Purdue University Indianapolis HEAR voices of people who GO deeper Americans had 500 million - Rutgers University, New Brunswick regard to collective bargaining emerge. barbed wire, land mines, and Cubans returning home from SEE more images conditions, Kinder advocated SEE more images GO deeper GO deeper GO deeper GO deeper to share what we learned with our communities. GO deeper dollars invested in Cuban SEE more images GO deeper the closure of a punishment thing I see is barbed wire - University of California, Riverside SEE more images rights and protections against eight miles of cacti. Here, a GO deeper GTMO could be detained or GO deeper gitmomemory.org/p11 - Indiana University—Purdue University Indianapolis - University of West Florida gitmomemory.org/p2 sugar production, primarily in - Arizona State University, Tempe - University of North Carolina at Greensboro GO deeper camp and publicly defended a everywhere and this terrifies gitmomemory.org/p9 gitmomemory.org/p10 A C D gitmomemory.org/p12 GO deeper know GTMO, visit GTMO on an - University of Massachusetts Amherst gitmomemory.org/p3 GO deeper discrimination. gitmomemory.org/p5 marine patrols the fence in gitmomemory.org/p6 have work permits revoked - Brown University the Oriente province, where - Rutgers University, New Brunswick gitmomemory.org/p7 long-detained refugee. gitmomemory.org/p8 me.” - University of Minnesota 1963. without warning. © Lyric R. Cabral. Courtesy the Transportation Security Administration. (A)“GITMO Captives’ paintings 8.7.09”, Photograph by Army Sgt. Michael Baltz, Joint Task Force Guantánamo. Courtesy Wikimedia Commons. Courtesy Bill Bond. Formal Dinner Aboard the Sensation (photo by Dr. Patrick Moore). gitmomemory.org/p13 interactive map, and EXPLORE Capture of the Fort at Malate, 1898, Courtesy Library of Congress. gitmomemory.org/p4 Guantánamo Bay is located. Courtesy Naval History and Heritage Command, Washington, DC. The Officers’ Club, United States Naval Base, Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. Courtesy National Geographic. (B) (C) Artist Unknown, Gitmo Captives’ artwork. Courtesy Emma Reverter, BBC Mundo. c. 1995. Courtesy Aurora de Armendi. Courtesy Steve Brown. (D) Artist Unknown, Gitmo Captive’s artwork, 2010. Courtesy Christopher Sims. more of its complicated and Courtesy The Leasing of Guantánamo Bay by Michael J. Strauss, 2009. Courtesy Justin Norman, January 11, 2012. Photo by Brennan Linsley, 2009. Courtesy AP. In 2005, 16-year-old Muslim immigrant Adama Bah We experience the trade-offs between security and civil Bill Bond and fellow naval officers relax after work at Attendees of the 2012 reunion of W.T. Sampson High The capture of the fort at Malate by Filipino insurgents The Caribbean was strategically important during WWII US residents and their families often described GTMO contested history by scanning Aurora De Armendi was 14 when Clinton announced (pictured with her sister, Mariama) was imprisoned liberties every time we go to the airport. Since 2001 the Under President Obama, GTMO detainees are offered art classes. In 2011, the military displayed a biergarten on base in 1969. Past GTMO residents School, the base school for residents’ children, gather and American soldiers helped to end Spanish colonial Each year, the Cuban government refuses to deposit the to protect US shipping routes from German U-boats. as a Caribbean “Mayberry”—a safe world of parades, “Haiti is a prison, and so is Guantánamo,” said a former A solitary, hooded figure sits in front of a global Will the future of Guantánamo simply be a continuation in 1995 that all remaining balseros would be allowed Courtesy Ron Sachs/CNP/Corbis, 2002. Courtesy California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. for six weeks in Pennsylvania. Government agents No-Fly list has barred people, including many Muslims, their artwork in the prison library, which detainees cannot visit, and made it available to the media. frequently identify camaraderie as a common memory. around and pore over past yearbooks. The yearbooks the QR codes. rule in the Philippines. The raising of the American flag, check for GTMO’s lease payment, symbolically signaling Increased military spending expanded permanent high school proms, movies under the stars, and 1950s detainee, “it was really bad there, especially for the symbol of US power. Since 2005, the activist group of the present? Shortly after he took office, President (A) A Guantánamo detainee runs inside an exercise however, foreshadows the war over Filipino independence into the US, and recalls the increased liberties they seized her from her New York home and identified her from air travel. The display was censored, excluding imagery deemed “too aggressive” or that might reveal facilitate conversation about shared experiences. area at the detention facility at Guantánamo Bay US its desire to withdraw from the agreement. According infrastructure, including McCalla Airfield Headquarters Americana. A well-run military machine allowed base children.” Families and communities were forcibly broken Witness Against Torture has staged a series of protests, Obama’s picture was installed at GTMO, but detainees Naval Base, 2010. Courtesy Reuters. between the former allies that would follow. apart in their flight from Haiti and detention at GTMO. were given: swimming in the bay, fishing, and limited, Detainees under Military Police guard at Camp X-Ray, California Institution for Men, Chino, California. as a potential suicide bomber. She would fight these the artists’ identity. The benign still lifes and landscapes contrast sharply with earlier politically to the 1934 Treaty, however, the lease persists until both pictured here. Relying on over 10,000 Cuban, civilian, and residents to explore exotic locales and enjoy a self- At the gate, 1966, Image by © Bettmann/CORBIS. including a 96-hour cell vigil, to call attention to the US are still held at the naval station and much remains the (B) Photo of a family in front of the Windward Point Harvesting Sugarcane in Cuba, c. 1940. Courtesy supervised, exploration outside the camps. During this allegations until 2007. The government never produced Lighthouse in the 1960’s. Courtesy Sibyl McClaugherty. Courtesy Leatherneck—Magazine of the Marines. Even unaccompanied children with family members in November 24, 1994. Courtesy The Miami Herald. Guantánamo Bay Naval Station. charged GTMO art. The seascapes are particularly ironic, since the detainees’ restrictive quarters do Library of Congress. parties agree to terminate it. Effectively, then, the US military laborers, WWII-era construction established the contained existence without poverty, drugs, or locked doors. © Carol Halebian. government’s failure to close GTMO. Why is GTMO still same, despite Administration promises to close the (C) Courtesy Google maps altered by Kathryn time, balseros built strong community, including with evidence against her. not permit views of the sea. B Cuban Commuters, 1983. Courtesy the US Navy. station’s physical footprint for the remainder of the 20th the US were returned to Haiti. “open”? prison camp. How might Guantánamo be transformed? Wetherbee. controls the base indefinitely. the military. B GTMO C century.

Download pdf of all panels at: picture-projects.com/load/GTMO/panels.pdf

6 “ uantánamo” has become an international Gsymbol of America’s WHY War on Terror, and a lightning rod for debates about torture, detention, national security, GUANTÁNAMO? and human rights. But the US naval station at Guantánamo Bay—also known by its military acronym “GTMO” or its nickname, “Gitmo”—was part of American politics and policy for a century before 9-11. It has had very deep, and very different, personal meanings. And it has been “closed” several times, only to be put to new use. How was GTMO used before? How does that history shape what could—and should—happen next?

SHAPE THE DEBATE Join communities across the country

TEXT in dialogue on the tough questions ‘GITMO’ to GTMO poses to all of us. Text your 41411 response to questions on each In 2012, students at 11 universities around the panel. See your comments shape country asked: what can GTMO’s history tell the debate, here and at gitmomemory.org us about what’s happening now—there, and here at home? They dug through historical Themes and visual archives; talked to people who worked there, lived there, were detained there, or advocated for those who were; and explored how GTMO relates to issues, people, and places in their own communities. Each Each exhibit banner focuses on a different theme or time period in GTMO’s history. student team created one or two of the panels in this exhibit, sharing their discoveries—and the difficult questions they struggled with. CREATIVE: PICTURE PROJECTS, INC. Photo: Camp X-Ray, 2009. Courtesy Sean Galbraith. PICTURE PROJECTS, INC. Photo: Camp X-Ray, CREATIVE:

GO deeper on your smartphone. HEAR voices of people who know GTMO, visit GTMO on an interactive map, and EXPLORE more of its complicated and contested history by scanning the QR codes. 1. Introduction Overview of the exhibit with monitor displaying continually updated visitor responses to

ocating GTMO is more than pinpointing it on a map. It means WHERE IS Lidentifying its multiple, overlapping and ambiguous associations. As the venue for a US detention center for 779 “Shape the Debate” questions. (32”-40” monitor required in front of or positioned near individuals from 39 countries captured in the War on Terror, GTMO may be most GUANTÁNAMO? widely associated around the globe as a site of struggle over questions of human rights and security. Understanding why this particular site was selected to house these detainees requires an understanding

of it as: this panel).

A natural harbor with favorable trade winds; “ Guantánamo Bay is in A port in the former colony of Spain, which lost the Spanish-American War to “ every practical respect a the United States; United States territory. A Cuban sovereign territory over which the US has “complete jurisdiction and - Justice David Kennedy, Concurrence, control” through a lease valid for as Rasul v. Bush 2004 long as the US maintains a naval base there;

A home for 8,500 military personnel, as well as civilians, family members, and contract personnel; A strategic flashpoint during the Cold War where US soldiers were stationed 2. Where is Guantánamo? Since it opened as a SWEDEN on opposite sides of the fence line from RUSSIA detention center in 2002, CANADA GTMO has housed detainees DENMARK BRITAIN far from the war zone and Cuban soldiers; BELGIUM KAZAKHSTAN from countries across the FRANCE BOSNIA & planet. UNITED STATES HERZEGOVINA SPAIN AZERBAIJAN UZBEKISTAN TURKEY TURKMENISTAN TAJIKISTAN SYRIA IRAN A holding center for Haitian and Cuban TUNISIA AFGHANISTAN MOROCCO PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES IRAQ CHINA JORDAN KUWAIT PAKISTAN ALGERIA LIBYA BAHRAIN refugees in the 1990s; EGYPT QATAR UNITED ARAB EMIRATES GTMO SAUDI ARABIA BANGLADESH MAURITANIA

YEMEN CHAD SUDAN A prison for “enemy combatants.” ETHIOPIA MALDIVES MALAYSIA UGANDA SOMALIA NATIVE COUNTRIES KENYA INDONESIA OF DETAINEES HELD TANZANIA AT GTMO SINCE THE Courtesy Ariane Davisson. BEGINNING OF THE WAR ON TERROR AUSTRALIA An orientation to the base’s geography and built environment.

SHAPE THE DEBATE Geography and history helped determine GTMO’s selection as a detention center: in Cuba but Should GTMO be returned to Cuba? leased to the US; as far from Havana as from Florida; away from media and legal scrutiny. VOTE Yes or No by texting GITMO#2 to 41411. Miami SMS See your comments shape the debate.

Havana

CUBA

CREATIVE: PICTURE PROJECTS, INC. Photo: Courtesy Secretary of Defense. CREATIVE: GTMO HAITI

Port-au-Prince Courtesy Google Maps altered by Ariane Davisson.

THE CARIBBEAN OUR POINT OF VIEW

Side by side on its 45 square GTMO reaches people around the world, including the UMass miles, GTMO has, over time, students who designed this panel: a former design student who been home to hundreds of facilities, including focused on prison design; a native New Yorker, Muslim-American; transportation hubs (blue), a former Foreign Service Officer; and an architecture student A military and community sites interested in preserving historic places of charged memories. As HEAR real stories (yellow), historic landmarks a group, we are concerned with the human rights implications of a SEE more images (green) and detention camps A (red). legally ambiguous space used to imprison individuals indefinitely. GO deeper 3. What are the Consequences of Global Expansion? gitmomemory.org/p2 - University of Massachusetts Amherst

(A) A Guantánamo detainee runs inside an exercise area at the detention facility at Guantánamo Bay US Naval Base, 2010. Courtesy Reuters. (B) Photo of a family in front of the Windward Point Lighthouse in the 1960’s. Courtesy Sibyl McClaugherty. (C) Courtesy Google maps altered by Kathryn B Wetherbee. B GTMO C How the US came to control the territory of Guantánamo Bay after the War of 1898.

GUANTÁNAMO’S LEGAL BLACK HOLE

he idea that GTMO is a “legal black hole” stems from the wording of WHAT LAWS APPLY Tthe agreements that granted the United States the lands for the base after the War of 1898. The Platt Amendment, passed by Congress in 1901, illustrated the reluctance of the US to grant newly- IN A STATE OF independent Cuba full sovereignty. The 4. What Laws Apply in a State of Exception? Platt Amendment stipulated that the US maintained the right to intervene militarily in Cuba, “for the preservation of Cuban EXCEPTION? independence.” A major factor leading to the inclusion of this language was the US government’s desire to protect American commercial interests—especially investments in sugar—against Cuban labor radicalism. The Cuban Assembly initially refused to accept the Platt Amendment as part of the treaty between the two nations, The peculiar 1903 lease with Cuba that created GTMO’s “legal black hole,” and who it has but subsequently relented in exchange for a favorable export agreement with They can’t get in. They the United States and the withdrawal of American troops.

“ can’t get out. They can’t

SHAPE THE DEBATE get help, and now the Is the treaty leasing Guantánamo Bay just? “ impacted in the decades since. government is saying no SMS VOTE Yes or No by texting GITMO#4 to 41411. See your comments shape the debate. court can review what’s The Amendment also specified that the going on. US would lease Cuban territory for the establishment of naval coaling stations. - Brandt Goldstein, describing Haitian This was formalized in the 1903 Cuban- American Treaty, which addressed the refugees detained at GTMO in the early boundaries of the American base at 1990s (from Storming the Court) Guantánamo Bay and its governance. According to Article III of the 1903 Treaty, while “the United States recognizes the continuance of the ultimate sover- eignty of the Republic of Cuba…the United States shall exercise complete Senator Henry Moore Teller jurisdiction and control.” The 1934 Treaty sponsored an amendment to the Declaration of War with of Relations between the US and Cuba Spain in 1898, forbidding the annexation of Cuba at the replaced sections of the controversial end of the confrontation. The amendment represented a Platt Amendment but reaffirmed the short-lived departure from the 5. How Do Policies Build Places? United States’ demands that it Guantánamo Bay lease. Since the 1960s, gain influence over the island. Cuba has protested that the acquisition of Courtesy the United States Coast Guard. Guantánamo Bay violated international law.

A United States Marine carries a refugee Haitian boy at GTMO. The detainment of Haitian refugees took advantage of GTMO’s status as Cuban “sovereign” territory, and allowed the United States government to Henry Moore Teller, c. 1902. Courtesy Library of initially deny asylum seekers due process since they were Congress. not on American soil. CREATIVE: PICTURE PROJECTS, INC. Photo: Camp X-Ray, 2006. Courtesy Christopher Sims. PICTURE PROJECTS, INC. Photo: Camp X-Ray, CREATIVE:

1898 1983 1991 2006 OUR POINT OF VIEW The development of the base’s infrastructure through WWII.

Cuban workers exit from the We learned how the legal, political, and moral debates around northeast gate of GTMO in 1983. The ambiguity of the the recent controversial uses of GTMO relate back to how the base’s legal and political US acquired it. We’re shocked that so much importance has been status affected labor practices placed on concepts of sovereignty, control, and jurisdiction, with and the administration of so little said about how the lease’s history caused these issues to HEAR real stories American and Cuban laws in emerge. SEE more images regard to collective bargaining rights and protections against GO deeper discrimination. - Rutgers University, New Brunswick gitmomemory.org/p4

Courtesy The Leasing of Guantánamo Bay by Michael J. Strauss, 2009.

Each year, the Cuban government refuses to deposit the check for GTMO’s lease payment, symbolically signaling its desire to withdraw from the agreement. According to the 1934 Treaty, however, the lease persists until both parties agree to terminate it. Effectively, then, the US Cuban Commuters, 1983. Courtesy the US Navy. controls the base indefinitely. 6. How do International Tensions Shape Everyday Lives?

CONSTRUCTING GTMO

amed “Puerto Grande” by Christopher Columbus in 1494, HOW DO POLICIES NGuantánamo Bay was seen by Daily life for military families and Cuban workers on the base during the Cold War. Europeans as an ideal natural port, yet it was never developed. This changed in the 19th century when the US Navy defined the Caribbean as “America’s lake”—vital BUILD PLACES? for defense and economic interests. In 1900 the Navy listed Guantánamo Bay as its top choice for a Caribbean station. Construction on the naval station at Guantánamo Bay began immediately after signing the 1903 lease with Cuba. As the US focus shifted toward the Panama Canal, the installation remained a coaling station through the 1930s with only the minimum defenses for the United States to maintain possession.

SHAPE THE DEBATE We must occupy a As foreign policies change, should the United States maintain permanent foreign bases? 7. Who is a Refugee? What Makes a Refuge? “ preponderant position SMS VOTE Yes or No by texting GITMO#5 to 41411. in the waters and along See your comments shape the debate.

the coasts in the region In the buildup to WWII, the Navy recognized GTMO’s value to Caribbean

defense and expanded and modernized south of us…so as naval and aviation facilities. The “ government allocated $34 million for to avoid any possible a new airfield and improved medical, recreational, and communication services. Experiences of Haitian refugees feeling Haiti who were interdicted at sea and held at complications in the GTMO operated as a hub for a convoy system to transport resources around the future. Caribbean and eastern seaboard. After the war, the Navy repaired roads, buildings, - Theodore Roosevelt, 1903 and the dilapidated boundary fence and built shopping centers, parks, and housing. GTMO from 1991-1994, including those in the infamous “HIV prison camp.” The Cuban Revolution, Bay of Pigs, and Cuban Missile Crisis once again increased GTMO’s significance. Fidel Castro roused Cuban discontent toward the US presence and argued that the lease was illegal. Castro militarized the boundary fence and planted an eight-mile long “Cactus

Courtesy Library of Congress. Curtain.” In 1964 he cut off the water lines. As America’s first foreign military installation, GTMO In response, the Navy built an independent served as an entrance to the Caribbean. To ensure US regional dominance, Marines stabilized political water treatment plant, physically and unrest in Cuba (1906-1909), Haiti (1915-1934), and the Dominican Republic (1916-1924). Most military symbolically severing GTMO from Cuba. personnel lived in permanent buildings or tents like the ones seen here at Deer Point in 1911. CREATIVE: PICTURE PROJECTS, INC. Photo: US Navy Fleet in Guantánamo Bay, 1927. Courtesy Corbis. PICTURE PROJECTS, INC. Photo: US Navy Fleet in Guantánamo Bay, CREATIVE:

1911 1945 1963 OUR POINT OF VIEW

Do good fences make good At the Arizona State University Public History Program, we neighbors? The United States-built fence was poorly started the project with different ideas of why GTMO matters. maintained for decades, Our research reinforced and challenged our ideas about whether allowing people, ammunition, the base’s recent use could be considered exceptional or and goods to cross. After the inevitable. We concluded that the history of the base is more HEAR real stories Cuban Revolution, Cubans complex and significant than the current public debate suggests. SEE more images reinforced the boundary with barbed wire, land mines, and 7 GO deeper eight miles of cacti. Here, a - Arizona State University, Tempe gitmomemory.org/p5 marine patrols the fence in 1963. Courtesy Naval History and Heritage Command, Washington, DC.

The Caribbean was strategically important during WWII to protect US shipping routes from German U-boats. Increased military spending expanded permanent infrastructure, including McCalla Airfield Headquarters pictured here. Relying on over 10,000 Cuban, civilian, and military laborers, WWII-era construction established the Courtesy Leatherneck—Magazine of the Marines. station’s physical footprint for the remainder of the 20th century. HAITIANS AND GTMO

eginning in 1991, over 32,000 men, women and children fled Haiti in WHO IS A REFUGEE? Bmakeshift boats. Many were pro- democracy activists seeking refuge after a military dictatorship overthrew President Aristide. Intercepted by the US Coast Guard, they came to crowded camps WHAT MAKES A surrounded by barbed wire at GTMO to pre-screen their asylum claims. The Immigration and Naturalization Service classified most Haitians in GTMO REFUGE? as “economic migrants”. Despite the political dangers at home, many were quickly returned to Haiti. Others endured lengthy detention as they waited to learn if they could enter the US.

US courts declared that Haitians detained at GTMO had “no substantive rights” under law, but Haitian detainees fought to improve camp conditions and asserted the

urgent need for due process. Protesters I could not continue to were punished with solitary confinement

and women were made to undergo “ live here anymore, nor... humiliating physical examinations. “When “ we protested,” one detainee recalled, “I go back to Haiti... That is was beaten...made to sleep on the ground like animals, like dogs, not like humans.” why I started the hunger SHAPE THE DEBATE strike. Should the US judge the quality of refugees it - Elma Verdieu, former Haitian detainee, admits? On what basis? explaining his resistance at court (Haitian VOTE Yes or No by texting GITMO#7 to 41411. 8. Safe Haven or Prison Camp? SMS Centers Council v. Sale), 1993 See your comments shape the debate. President George H.W. Bush responded to the crisis in May 1992 by ordering the Coast Guard to stop bringing Haitians to GTMO. The order returned all detainees to Haiti but was criticized for violating the Geneva Conventions’ treatment of refugees. Two months later, about 250 HIV-positive Haitians remained. Through hunger strikes and collaboration with Experiences of Cuban Refugees held at GTMO from 1994-1996, exploring refugees’ diverse human rights activists and lawyers, these refugees gained entry to the US and won a case to “close Guantánamo” in 1993. © Carol Halebian. © Carol Halebian. But the government maintained its right “Tents at the Haitian Refugee Camp”. Courtesy Merrill Smith. “Tents Locals show reporters the site of a mass grave in Drawing on expertise gained in protesting the military to hold refugees at GTMO indefinitely, Port-au-Prince. Often persecution intensified after regime from which they fled, the Haitian refugees at detainees returned to Haiti. One girl, who fled after GTMO demonstrated against their indefinite detention. opening the camp for future uses. her parents were killed, was sent back to the care of Using signs, pamphlets, letters to Congress, and direct her grandmother in Haiti. She was killed the night she action, Haitians projected their voices to an international returned. audience. assessments of their time in tent cities. CREATIVE: PICTURE PROJECTS, INC. Photo: CREATIVE:

1991 1992 1993 OUR POINT OF VIEW

Upon his arrival in 1992 as Sophomores at Brown University, we come from different Commander of the Haitian corners of the world; our diverse backgrounds helped us put the refugee camps, Colonel Stephen Kinder described US treatment of Haitians at GTMO into an international context. GTMO as “a time bomb ready We used written sources and conversations with participants to blow.” Supportive of Haitian and eyewitnesses to create a people-centric narrative aimed at HEAR real stories detainees’ efforts to improve honoring the agency of the Haitians involved. SEE more images conditions, Kinder advocated the closure of a punishment GO deeper camp and publicly defended a - Brown University gitmomemory.org/p7 long-detained refugee.

Courtesy Steve Brown.

“Haiti is a prison, and so is Guantánamo,” said a former detainee, “it was really bad there, especially for the children.” Families and communities were forcibly broken apart in their flight from Haiti and detention at GTMO. Even unaccompanied children with family members in © Carol Halebian. the US were returned to Haiti. 9. Is the US Sacrificing Civil Liberties to Secure It Safety? The legal battles over GTMO and its relation to debates over detention in the US. Includes THE STATE OF DETENTION

he youngest was only thirteen, the oldest ninety-eight. Captured IS THE US SACRIFICING Tin the “War on Terror,” they were sent to GTMO, a place beyond the normal protections of US law. Besides the location statistics on GTMO prisoners since 9-11. of their detainment, what these 779 people had in common was their classification CIVIL LIBERTIES TO as a new category of prisoner. First called “enemy combatants” and later simply “detainees,” they were denied POW status and the corresponding rights SECURE ITS SAFETY? guaranteed by the Geneva Convention, including protection from torture. The US government has continued to argue that it is engaged in a borderless war against undefined groups, and on that basis, it can indefinitely detain terrorism suspects who are captured far from any battlefield.

In a way, Guantánamo is one piece of a

larger US prison system—a system with over two million people serving time “ behind bars. But unlike prison inmates in the US, the vast majority of GTMO Prison is a still point in a detainees were held but never charged, 10. How has GTMO Affected America’s Laws and Values? tried, or sentenced. As of September 2012, 165 prisoners remain confined at GTMO— “ turning world. indefinitely detained. - Nelson Mandela, 1995

SHAPE THE DEBATE Should GTMO detainees be tried in the same way as people accused of crimes in the US? Domestic repercussions of GTMO, including Islamophobia and “Little Gitmo” at Terre SMS VOTE Yes or No by texting GITMO#9 to 41411. See your comments shape the debate.

After 9/11: The Numbers at GTMO 779 Men Have Been Detained Date the first detainees arrived at GTMO: January 11, 2002 Haute, Indiana. 2006

at Guantánamo since 2002. 21 What Happened to Them? 55% 86%

$70 million Indefinitely Detained - 165 $8 million

Courtesy ACLU.

Released Never Died in “…‘[E]nemy combatant’ has historically referred to all Interrogation Room, Guantánamo Bay Naval Base, 2010. Courtesy Christopher Sims. Charged with a Custody - 8 Crime - 602 of the citizens of a state with which the Nation is at war, Serving Sentences - 4 and who are members of the armed force of that enemy state...Enemy combatants in the war on terrorism are not defined by simple, readily apparent criteria, such as citizenship or military uniform. And the power to name a citizen as an `enemy combatant’ is therefore extraordinarily broad.” Courtesy ACLU. -“Detention of Enemy Combatants Act,” 2005.

Courtesy ACLU. CREATIVE: PICTURE PROJECTS, INC. Photo: CREATIVE:

2002 2005 2006 OUR POINT OF VIEW

Despite having a steadily declining crime rate, the United States continues to have the highest incarceration rate in the world, and California has consistently ranked in the top third of states with the highest prison population. As Californians, we thought it was fitting to examine confinement both at GTMO and in our own HEAR real stories state of detention. SEE more images GO deeper - University of California, Riverside 11. What Does Art Reveal About GTMO? gitmomemory.org/p9

Courtesy Ron Sachs/CNP/Corbis, 2002. Courtesy California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

Detainees under Military Police guard at Camp X-Ray, California Institution for Men, Chino, California. Guantánamo Bay Naval Station. Art created by people detained at GTMO in different moments and for different reasons, with context of how the art was created and the role in played in detainees’ experiences. ARTS OF DETENTION

or the people detained at GTMO, whether as refugees or “enemy WHAT DOES ART Fcombatants”, art has been a way to express their diverse experiences. The imagery from the Haitian, Cuban, and Includes video on art of Cuban refugees with testimony from Cuban artists. (19”-22” post-9-11 periods offers testimony to the range of circumstances and emotions, REVEAL ABOUT GTMO? from the trauma of perilous journeys to yearning for homes left behind and dreams of the future. The context of art production varied as well. While art supplies were available to some through donations or military programming, monitor required in front of or near this panel) others had to adapt found materials. Within their makeshift tent cities, refugees used canvas, bottles, melted plastic food containers, and other objects to create their art. These works show alternative narratives of GTMO’s history viewed together for the first time.

It was a way to escape

“ it all—the stress, the problems. The work allowed“ you to liberate yourself SHAPE THE DEBATE Has your image of Guantánamo changed as a result from your surroundings. of this art? - Carlos Aulet, Cuban artist detained SMS VOTE Yes or No by texting GITMO#11 to 41411. 12. How Do Memories of GTMO Survive? at GTMO See your comments shape the debate. How the military families who grew up at GTMO remember the base as a treasured home

B

A B C A C

(A) Louidue Benche, ‘Rescue by Sea’ #2. (A) Photographer unknown, Cuban Rafters 1996, Image 62. Courtesy the Caribbean Sea Migration Collection, (B) Michelet Laurore, Haitian Boat People. David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University. (C) Michelet Laurore, Camp Bulkeley during Demo. © Carol Halebian. (B) Bernardo Caballero Soler (Lele), Injust Sanction, Cuban Art: Hope From Guantánamo (1994 exhibit). (D) Artist Unknown, Haitian 1991, GTMO Museum. Courtesy Holly Ackerman. (C) Jenny Vegas Cordoba, US Flag Drawing GITMO. Courtesy Siro Del Castillo.

Few examples survive of Haitian artwork created during Cuban balseros began making art soon after their arrival Colin Annisser, Black and White Painting of Camp Bulkeley. © Carol Halebian. Black and White Painting of Camp Bulkeley. Colin Annisser, refugees’ times at GTMO, but the images we have convey at GTMO, initially with materials salvaged from their a vivid narrative of an often untold history. Artists, many surroundings. Unlike the Haitians, over time Cuban refugees without formal training, utilized the materials around them received significant support, including art supplies, from to create sculptures, paintings, and murals representing the outside groups. Balseros opened galleries to display the and maintain close ties with each other through reunions. botpippel (Créole for Haitian boaters) experience: depictions work of artists of all ages and skill levels (C), and eventually of their harrowing experiences at sea (A,B), harsh treatment the military allowed a formal art program. The art expressed (C), memorials to those lost along their journey, and homage protest about their treatment as well as narratives of resilience to places left behind (D). (B) and allegories of freedom (A).

D CREATIVE: PICTURE PROJECTS, INC. Photo: CREATIVE:

1991-3 1994-6 2009-11 OUR POINT OF VIEW

Although we are all American citizens living in the Midwest, we knew little about GTMO beyond stereotypical images of post-9-11 detainees in orange jumpsuits. We found new connections through the art and the insights it offers. The feelings and experiences of B HEAR real stories the artists led us to a greater appreciation for the complex history SEE more images and human cost of GTMO. GO deeper gitmomemory.org/p11 A C D - Indiana University—Purdue University Indianapolis

(A)“GITMO Captives’ paintings 8.7.09”, Photograph by Army Sgt. Michael Baltz, Joint Task Force Guantánamo. Courtesy Wikimedia Commons. (B) (C) Artist Unknown, Gitmo Captives’ artwork. Courtesy Emma Reverter, BBC Mundo. (D) Artist Unknown, Gitmo Captive’s artwork, 2010. Courtesy Christopher Sims.

Under President Obama, GTMO detainees are offered art classes. In 2011, the military displayed their artwork in the prison library, which detainees cannot visit, and made it available to the media. The display was censored, excluding imagery deemed “too aggressive” or that might reveal the artists’ identity. The benign still lifes and landscapes contrast sharply with earlier politically charged GTMO art. The seascapes are particularly ironic, since the detainees’ restrictive quarters do not permit views of the sea. 13. Who Decides GTMO’s Future? How GTMO has been “closed” before, and the variety of visions—both Cuban and CLOSING GUANTÁNAMO

n 1993, Guantánamo was “closed” by a US District Court to release HIV-positive WHO DECIDES IHaitian refugees detained there. In 1996 it was “closed” again when the last of American—for its future. 32,000 Cuban refugees held there gained entrance to the US. Six years later, Camp X-Ray, built to discipline refugees, was GTMO’S FUTURE? repurposed for the first enemy combatants in the “war on terror.” Protests against the detention and treatment of “detainees” have erupted ever since, resulting in the still unfulfilled pledges by President Obama to “close Guantánamo.”

If it was up to me I would But what does “closing Guantánamo” really mean? Guantánamo has been both

“ close Guantánamo a symptom and a symbol of relations between Cuba and the US, and “closing”

not tomorrow but this means different things in each country. US efforts to close Guantánamo usually afternoon…it’s causing “ refer to the detention centers. The Cuban government calls for closing the entire naval station. Fidel Castro has repeatedly us far more damage than disputed the legality of its lease and any good we get from it. demanded that the US leave. What are the different visions for the place - Colin Powell, former US Secretary of if the station is ever closed? While serving State, June 10, 2007 as defense minister, Raul Castro asserted that after its eventual return to Cuba, GTMO would be made into a museum. Diverse US and international groups have developed visions for the station’s future: a hurricane evacuation center, an infectious disease research and education facility, a beach resort, an eco-tourism site, a world diplomatic center.

Today, these are unrealized visions. “Detainees” remain imprisoned; the US military constructed new sites for possible future refugees. Can GTMO actually close? Who decides its future?

SHAPE THE DEBATE Should the US government continue to have voice in shaping the future of Guantánamo Bay?

© Carol Halebian. Courtesy Wikimedia Commons. Photograph by Scott Langley, January 11, 2012. Courtesy Amnesty International. Photograph by Scott Langley, VOTE Yes or No by texting GITMO#13 to 41411. How do you make yourself heard? From 1992-1993, In 2005, country star Toby Keith, a vocal proponent of SMS ACT UP staged media-grabbing protests over Bush- the “war on terror,” viewed a memorial to US resistance See your comments shape the debate. and Clinton-administration policies on Haitian refugees to Castro’s attempt to “close” the station, or impede fleeing political oppression. Their tactics involved its function, by severing its water supply in 1964. What disruptive occupation of public spaces to force the closing does this image say about US responses to Cuban of Camp Bulkeley, where nearly 300 HIV-positive Haitian claims to GTMO? refugees were housed under deplorable circumstances. CREATIVE: PICTURE PROJECTS, INC. Photo: CREATIVE:

1993 2005 2009 OUR POINT OF VIEW

We all recognized Guantánamo to be significant without understanding why. This project opened our eyes to injustice, disempowerment, and marginalized people and histories. As 8 students from a city with a large refugee population, we’ve worked together to become more informed citizens, empowered HEAR real stories to share what we learned with our communities. SEE more images GO deeper - University of Minnesota gitmomemory.org/p13

Courtesy Justin Norman, January 11, 2012. Photo by Brennan Linsley, 2009. Courtesy AP.

A solitary, hooded figure sits in front of a global Will the future of Guantánamo simply be a continuation symbol of US power. Since 2005, the activist group of the present? Shortly after he took office, President Witness Against Torture has staged a series of protests, Obama’s picture was installed at GTMO, but detainees including a 96-hour cell vigil, to call attention to the US are still held at the naval station and much remains the government’s failure to close GTMO. Why is GTMO still same, despite Administration promises to close the “open”? prison camp. How might Guantánamo be transformed? Download pdf of all panels at: picture-projects.com/load/GTMO/panels.pdf Multimedia and Visitor Participation

Multimedia content: Exhibit requires 2 monitors for content related to specific panels. Additional content can be projected from the web platform at www.gitmomemory.org, or venues can make the web platform available for visitors to explore on computers. Content includes:

Video testimonies: 3-5 minute audio portraits from people who lived, worked, were detained at GTMO, or advocated for people there from the Cold War through the War on terror

Interactive map of the base, including sites from Camp X-Ray to refugee tent cities to McDonald’s, brought to life with personal testimonies

Timeline of GTMO’s history in images and testimony, from 1898 through the present.

Mobile multimedia: Using their smart phones, visitors can access video testimonies as well as deeper information on each panel’s theme by scanning the QR codes on each panel.

“Shape the Debate”: Visitor participation system that relies on mobile phones, requiring no equipment from the venue. Each panel includes a “Shape the Debate” question with instructions for how to text votes and comments on the big questions GTMO’s history raises, such as “Is the US an Empire Today?” and “Should the US judge the quality of refugees it admits? On what basis?” Visitors can see their votes and comments shape the debate in the monitor at the start of the exhibit.

9 View of Monitor Content in Introduction Panel

10 How Your University Can Participate Invite your university to join the national dialogue in one or more of the following ways:

Teach a course on GTMO using our teaching resources: over 11 universities have used our database of primary and secondary multimedia resources and our sample curriculum to teach courses or units on GTMO’s history and the challenges of its public memory.

Host the exhibit, and use it as a catalyst for conversation in your community. The exhibit is traveling through the end of 2014, but can be shown simultaneously in multiple venues, with conversations facilitated between host communities. Check out the exhibit schedule to identify potential conversation partners in other regions – or host it in 2015 and beyond.

Host public programs using our speakers’ bureau of experts– from scholars to people with direct experience – on a diversity of issues

Facilitate local dialogues using our dialogue kits to host conversations about GTMO and the questions it raises in your own communities

Invite your students and/or communities to contribute to GTMO’s public memory by conducting additional oral histories, creating digital mini-exhibits for the web platform, or even creating an additional exhibit panel that gives your take on an underrepresented theme. Student work can be displayed at subsequent venues and on the website.

11 Participating Universities

Students and faculty from the following universities participated in creating the Guantánamo Public Memory Project.

Hub Institution

Columbia University, Institute for the Study of Human Rights

University Partners

Arizona State University, Tempe, Public History

Brown University, Public Humanities

Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis, Museum Studies and Public History

The New School for Social Engagement, Oral History

New York University, Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies, Museum Studies Program, Public History and Archives

University of California, Riverside, Public History

University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Public History and Art History

University of Miami, Documentary Production

University of Minnesota, History

University of North Carolina, Greensboro, Public History

University of West Florida, Public History

12 Exhibit Schedule

The exhibit is scheduled to travel to the following venues. However, if your institution wishes to host it during one of the times below, you may display an additional copy at the same time as another venue, with conversations facilitated between host communities.

Dates Venue

December 13 2012 – February 10 2013 Kimmel Windows Gallery, New York University, New York, NY

February 18 – March 29 2013 Douglass Library, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ

April 8 – May 12 2013 Cultural Arts Gallery, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, IN

May 20 – Summer 2013 California Museum of Photography, Riverside, CA

September 11 – October 9 2013 Herter Gallery, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA

October 16 – November 29 2013 Phoenix Public Library, Phoenix, AZ

December 6 2013 – January 2014 International Civil Rights Center and Museum, Greensboro, NC

February – March 2014 Minnesota History Center, St. Paul, MN

April – May 2014 Historic Pensacola Village, Pensacola, FL

Fall 2014 University of Rhode Island Feinstein Providence Campus Gallery,

Providence, RI 13 Exhibit Components 80" x 70" Provided: Panel 3 Panel 2 Panel 1 13 Banners - W 70" x H 80”, 108 linear feet. Digital prints on durable soft knit polyester; Wall/ceiling hanging elements*: 6’’ invisible hooks 26 3/4” wood dowels, 13 with end caps for hanging

DVD: Arts of Detention A Graphic For Panel 1- “Introduction” Mac mini computer to display url: http://gitmomemory.

org/televisual-monitor/?panel=2&refresh=5 Timeline Panel line Painted

Additional equipment: (required, not provided) For Panel 1- “Introduction” 32”-40”1080p monitor Monitor stand**, Power outlet, Internet access 2.5' 2.5' For Panel 11- “Arts of Detention” 3' 19”-21”monitor DVD player or monitor flash drive capability Monitor stand**, Power outlet

Additional equipment optional to display additional multimedia content, not provided For end of exhibition (or as space permits) Computer (for website display and use) Graphic B 8 7 6 5 with mouse, keyboard and sound card Computer stand***, Headphones, Power outlet, 4 Internet access 9 Exhibit Display 10 3 Detailed installation instructions can be downloaded at: 2 picture-projects.com/load/GTMO/instructions.pdf 11 - Hang panels 3 feet from ground level and at least 2.5 feet between panels 12 13 1 - Align timeline graphic near the bottom of the panels. - Display panels chronologically from right to left as * Alternative hardware may be used as desired. A good hardware supplier is www. shown in graphic B. rosedisplays.com. They have many hooks and make hanging hardware called “gotcha - (Optional) A line may be painted behind the panel, bars” which affix to ceiling and hold graphics via horizontal bars. ** Size for monitor stands may vary depending on the monitor size. aligned with the panel timeline as shown in graphic A. *** Computer stand should be high enough for a standing guest. 14 Shipping

Two 8 x 8 x 85” 2-piece Telescopic Boxes for domestic shipping are provided. Weight: approximately 20 lbs each Each box will contain 6-8 panels rolled around their dowels (in seam pockets at the top and bottom) wrapped in bubble wrap.

15 Pricing and Specifications

Contents 13 (thirteen) 70” x 80” digital prints on durable soft knit polyester; wall/ceiling hanging elements: 26 1/2” wood dowels with 13 pairs of end caps; Mac Mini; Apple mini display port to VGA adapter. Additional equipment required (not provided): 32”-40” 1080p monitor with internet access; 19”-21” monitor, both monitors with stands Size 108 running feet, est. min. (with 2.5” minimum space between panels) Up to 180 linear feet as space allows Supplemental Resources Associated curriculum; dialogue kits; speakers’ bureau (all provided) Participation Fee $7,500 per 12-week booking period plus shipping (shipping materials provided) Shipping Size & Weight Two 8 x 8 x 85” boxes of approximately 20 lbs each. Estimated cost for domestic shipping $50-500 Security Limited Contact [email protected]

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