Anti-war activists demand return of U.S. base to Cuba

ANTI-WAR activists from around the world meeting in Guantánamo demanded the return to Cuba of territory occupied by the United States in this eastern province, where a U.S. Naval Base has been illegally established for more than 50 years.

Cuba’s demand to remove the base was a priority agenda item during the Third Seminar for Peace and the Abolition of Foreign Military Bases, held November 18-20.

Silvio Platero, president of the Cuban Movement for Peace and Peoples’ Sovereignty emphasized that the demand is a question of principle, while

René González, president of Cuba’s Institute of History asserted that the continuing presence of the Guantánamo base is absurd strategically, militarily and politically.

According to González, the base maintained on Cuban territory against the will of the people reflects the U.S. desire to maintain a point of contention, which could be utilized as a pretext for aggression, despite the fact that high-ranking U.S. military officials have said that Cuba represents no threat to U.S. national security.

Among the important figures attending the Seminar were Brazilian María Do Socorro Gomes, president of the World Peace Council and former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark.

Cuban authorities have rejected the presence of the military installation - the only one of its kind the United States maintains in a country with which it does not have diplomatic relations - and denounced U.S. intransigence as a violation of Cuba’s sovereignty, its national integrity and international law.

The U.S. government has installed a maximum security prison, known world-wide as a torture center, on the site which has been occupied since the beginning of the 20th century, based on terms imposed on Cuba’s with the withdrawal of Spanish colonial power from the island.