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U.S. Congress rejects bill to close
Guantánamo prison
On
May 22, the U.S. House of Representatives rejected,
by a 247-177 vote, a bill which sought to authorize
President Barack Obama to close the prison at the
illegal Guantánamo Naval Base, in the eastern Cuba.
Since 2002 the White House has kept the prison open
on the base, located on Cuban territory, against the
wishes of the Cuban people and government.
The
bill presented by Democrats as part of the 2015
national defense budge, proposed to overturn the ban
on the transfer of inmates to the U.S. mainland and
the closure of the prison by 2017.
The international community has
condemned the use of torture at the prison located
on the illegal Guantánamo Naval Base, where
detainees suffer cruel treatment. Photo: AFP.
In
his January State of the Union address, Obama said
that 2014 would be the year in which Congress lifts
restrictions on the transfer of prisoners, and of
the definitive closure of the prison, which
currently holds 154 detainees.
After his presidential election in 2009, Obama
signed an executive order to close the prison in
less than a year. A recent report published by the
Pentagon, stated that the prison costs almost 1
billion dollars annually, and that by the end of the
fiscal year 2014, total expenditures will exceed 5
billion dollars. The use of inhumane techniques,
such as sleep deprivation, prisoners being stripped
naked and locked in cold rooms and exhausting
interrogations, at the detention center have been
widely condemned. (PL)
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