Latin America urges Joe Biden to shut down Gua …

The Latin American Think Tank, made up of former foreign ministers, politicians and academics from the region, calls for the closure of Guantanamo, the maximum security prison that the United States has used to send and torture detainees accused of terrorism. The declaration, signed by former foreign ministers Jorge Taiana, Rafael Bielsa and Susana Malcorra (Argentina), Celso Amorim (Brazil) and José Miguel Insulza (Chile), among others, asserts that the measure could be “a symbol of great value in hours of uncertainty and challenge. ”The order is added to the Public letter that 24 Democratic senators sent to President Joe Biden, in which they defined prison as “a symbol of disorder and human rights violations.”.

The impugned prison was established at the US naval base on the coast of Guantanamo Bay in Cuba after the attack on the Twin Towers of September 11, 2001.. In fact, most of the detainees are accused of being behind the attack, or they are from the subsequent US invasion of Afghanistan. Biden took advantage of this Sunday, the 10th anniversary of the operation that killed Osama bin Laden, head of Al Qaida, to reaffirm his decision to withdraw all American troops from Afghanistan.. So far, he remains silent on his promise to shut down Guantánamo, where many prisoners have not been tried or charged for nearly two decades, and some have been allowed to be released but are still in detention.

“We understand this the demand of lawmakers aims to claim respect for the law, the central place of human rights and democracy in the domestic and international politics of the United States. However, such a decision would transcend the local dimension and send a clear and meaningful message to the world and to Latin America in particular, on whose territory this prison is established, ”the Latin American Think Tank said in a statement. .

The regional debate space considers that Guantánamo’s gesture of closure “would help create a new space for conversation on the American continent on issues such as strengthening democracy, respect for human rights, inequalities, cooperation and development “and it would be a contribution to “the modern, respectful and inescapable deliberation that the United States and Latin America owe each other”.

In a letter sent to Biden on April 16, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin and 23 of his fellow Democrats argued that Guantanamo “damaged America’s reputation, fueled anti-Muslim fanaticism, and weakened the United States’ ability to fight terrorism and fight for human rights and the rule of law around the world.”. As a result, they stressed that “it is time” to close the prison to “end the indefinite detention”.

February 23, United Nations (UN) He had asked Biden that when he follows through on his initiative to close the Guantanamo detention center, he criminalizes the abuses, human rights violations and mistreatment of those who fThe 40 detainees who remain there have been subdued. “Many had a Kafkaesque experience where the laws did not matter and a coercive and brutal use of power was made”they lamented in a stern statement. In this sense, they stressed the importance of redistributing the prisoners who remain in the institutions and argued that “democracies can do better”.

It is estimated that some 780 prisoners have passed through Guantánamo since it opened. President Barack Obama (2009-2017) said he made the closure of the base one of his priorities, but he fell short of his goal and barely managed to clear part of the prison by transferring a total of 196 detainees to third countries. At the Munich security conference in 2009, Biden, then vice president, said: “We will defend the rights of those we bring to justice and we will close the detention center at Guantanamo Bay.” From then on, and now under a new Democratic government that he presides over, Biden continues to break his promise.