A statement from the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples (ICAP) invites these world institutions and people of good will to raise their voices against the White House’s policy of retaining Latin American migrants, considered to be dangerous criminals by Washington, in this military enclave.
The text rejects the use of that territory illegally occupied from Cuba for more than 120 years for such purposes, demands a dignified treatment of the people confined there, and warns about the implications of the irresponsible use of that military area.
In this regard, the ICAP warns that such a concentration of civilians might generate “a scenario of risk and insecurity in that illegal enclave and its surroundings, which would threaten peace and generate conditions for accidents, errors and misinterpretations that might alter stability and have serious consequences.”
The ICAP statement also calls for the return of that portion of national soil “as demanded by the Cuban people and international law.
The presence of this base on Cuban soil is a violation of our sovereignty and a constant reminder of the interventionist policies of the United States in the region.”
The Foreign Ministry also took this line of thought, pointing out that “this military installation is known internationally, among other reasons, for housing a torture and indefinite detention center outside the jurisdiction of the US courts, where people who have never been prosecuted or convicted of any crime have remained for up to 20 years.”
Cuba has denounced the illegal occupation and since 1959, the triumphant revolutionary government, headed by Fidel Castro, stopped collecting the rent that successive US governments have paid for it and demanded its immediate return.
Cuba states that the prolonged presence of the United States in Guantanamo violates national sovereignty and international law, especially Article 52 of the Vienna Convention of 1969, which declares null and void any treaty that has been agreed upon under the use of force.
On January 29, Trump signed an executive order to authorize the military base at Guantanamo Bay as a destination for illegal migrants and continued with his promised operation of forced and illegal expulsion of thousands of these people.
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