CUBA-US: Guantanamo Locals Aloof to Transfer of Afghan Prisoners

By Patricia Grogg Reprint | | Print |

Patricia Grogg

GUANTANAMO, Cuba, Jan 11 2002 (IPS) - Residents of the southeastern Cuban town of Guantanamo remain detached from the commotion surrounding the transfer of prisoners captured in the war on Afghanistan to the United States navy base here, although criticism has been voiced in other parts of the country.

Cuban authorities, meanwhile, do not plan to beef up security, according to General José Solar Hernández, the army’s second-in- command in Cuba’s eastern region.

The fact that members of Afghanistan’s Taliban movement and militants of the Al Qaeda network will be held in the Guantanamo base “is not a topic for conversation, because people here know nothing about that,” a woman who gave the name of María told IPS while taking a walk with her small son through a park in downtown Guantanamo, a city of 200,000.

Alfredo Larco, a 23-year-old self-employed worker, expressed a similar view, and was not even interested in hearing the details of the imminent arrival Friday of the first 20 Afghan prisoners in Guantanamo Bay, located 970 kms from Havana, at the opposite end of the island.

However, people who were better-informed did express concern, not hesitating to describe Washington’s decision to convert its military enclave in Cuba into a jail for prisoners captured in the war in Afghanistan as a “provocation” and a “menacing move.”

“The United States is bringing to Cuba a conflict that is not our own. What would happen if a Taliban prisoner escaped to Cuban territory?” asked a lawyer passing through Guantanamo on a business trip, who asked not to be identified.

But General Solar Hernández took a guarded stance while responding to questions about that possibility.

“They (the United States) have looked for a place to hold the prisoners, and are bringing them to the base. It is nothing against our country,” said the officer in a news briefing with over 30 foreign journalists invited to tour Cuba’s installations along the 27-km-long perimeter fence that seals off the US enclave, which was leased in perpetuity to the United States in 1903.

However, the general made it clear that Cuba was confident that the United States was adopting high security measures in the transfer of prisoners to the Guantanamo base.

Solar Hernández met with the press Thursday at the northeastern gate of the Guantanamo naval base, the only entrance to the place by land, where a customs post used to function.

The US flag hoisted every morning at 8:00 AM local time marks Washington’s jurisdiction over 117.6 square kms of territory on this socialist island nation.

A few metres beyond the gate, which is guarded by Cuban border guards, a white strip divides the two sides, along which US and Cuban authorities meet when they need to discuss issues of common concern.

But Solar Hernández said that this time there was no coordination between authorities from the two countries regarding the transfer of captured members of the Taliban and the Al Qaeda network of Saudi-born millionaire Osama bin Laden, who Washington holds responsible for the Sep 11 terror attacks on New York and Washington.

“We have taken no special measures,” added the officer, although he insisted that Cuba is always prepared for any contingency. “We do not have to adopt additional security measures, because they are always in place,” he added.

This spot along the border of the US military enclave is reached by a narrow asphalt road, marked by signs warning “do not enter: minefields.”

“These are merely defensive minefields, and are necessary because there is a military base over there,” said Solar Hernández. “But everything is totally fenced in and protected by signs.”

He acknowledged that the United States had removed the landmines in the area under its jurisdiction in 2000. “But they have techniques to put the mines in place again within just a few hours, techniques that we don’t have,” he stated.

In the 1960s and 1970s, frequent incidents occurred along the perimeter of the base, some of which were fatal, such as one incident that led to the deaths of two Cuban border guards.

In 1994 and 1995, the United States used its installations to temporarily house around 30,000 Cubans who fled the country during the August 1994 “rafters” crisis.

But since the two countries signed migration accords in September 1995, things have changed, and “calm and tranquillity” reign in the area today, said Solar Hernández.

In the last few weeks, the base has been a hive of activity as additional troops and equipment were flown in to prepare for the prisoners’ arrival.

Since last Saturday, around 40 military transport flights have brought in 700 new troops, to add to the 2,700 military and civilian personnel already at the base, said the general, who added that C-141, T-130 and C-17 aircraft have also brought in 40 to 50 military vehicles.

The government of Fidel Castro has made no further references to the transfer of prisoners to the Guantanamo base since the Foreign Ministry stated on Dec 29 that it did not yet have enough information to take a position on the matter.

The brief official communique also noted that Cuba did not have jurisdiction over the terroritory occupied by the navy base, which has been in the hands of the United States since 1898.

Havana’s careful reaction was interpreted among US political circles as an indication of Cuba’s willingness to collaborate with Washington as far as possible in the “war on terrorism.”

Castro has stated that his government is against any kind of terrorism, but also against the war in Afghanistan, launched by the United States and Britain after the Sep 11 attacks on the United States.