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Cuba asks the UN to investigate
USA in Guantánamo
BY
IVAN TERRERO—Granma International staff
writer—
A few hours after the UN vote
against Cuba in the Human Rights Commission (HRC),
the island’s government called on the same agency to
investigate the situation of the prisoners detained
by the United States on the Guantánamo naval base.
“The
international community has a right to know what is
happening there,” stated Foreign Minister Felipe
Pérez Roque during a press conference at the Havana
Ministry.
The press
conference was called a few minutes after the vote
on the anti-Cuba resolution in Geneva.
Around
600 persons suspected of belonging to the Al-Qaeda
network or the Taliban have been detained on the
Guantánamo base without formal charges or access to
legal representation.
The
resolution presented by Cuba is aimed at an
investigation and report on the prison conditions of
the detainees and the cessation of all violations of
their rights. Moreover, Cuba has asked for a special
rapporteur on issues of torture to pronounce on the
situation at the U.S. base, and a follow up
discussion on the issue at the next HRC session in
2005.
The Cuban
foreign minister explained that the text only asks
for the creation of control and investigation
mechanisms and presented all the participating
journalists with a copy of the document.
Pérez
Roque announced that he is to ask the 22 nations who
voted against Cuba yesterday to co-sponsor the
resolution. “We likewise hope for sponsorship from
the European nations whose parliament has mandated
them to give priority attention to prisoners on the
base.
The HRC
passed the anti-Cuban resolution presented by
Honduras with the minimal difference of one vote: 22
in favor, 21 against and 10 abstentions.
The
minister qualified the result of the vote as
ridiculous and affirmed that the document could
never be presented as a condemnation of Cuba. “This
confirms once again the decline and discredit into
which the anti-Cuban maneuver organized by the
United States at the HRC has fallen,” he stated.
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