The White House is in the “final stages” of drafting a plan to close the contentious Guantanamo Bay prison and will submit it for review by lawmakers, spokesman Josh Earnest said on Wednesday.
US President Barack Obama made the closure of the controversial prison in Cuba a priority when he took office in 2009, but the plan has faced numerous setbacks, including Congress blocking the transfer of detainees to US prisons.
“The administration is in fact in the final stages of drafting a plan to safely and responsibly [close] the prison at Guantanamo Bay and to present that to Congress,” Earnest said.
“That has been something that our national security officials have been working on for quite some time, primarily because it is a priority of the president,” he said.
The operation in Cuba is not an effective use of government resources, Earnest told reporters.
The broader US naval base at Guantanamo in southeastern Cuba is also opposed by the Cuban government, with which the US just restored diplomatic relations. Cuba says the US is illegally occupying its land.
Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez called for the return of the territory to Cuba and for a lifting of the US embargo against the communist country while in Washington on Monday.
Standing next to US Secretary of State John Kerry, Rodriguez said Havana aimed to move forward.
However, he added that “totally lifting the blockade, the return of the illegally occupied territory of Guantanamo, as well as the full respect for Cuban sovereignty ... are crucial to be able to move towards the normalization.”
Kerry said the US had no plans to alter its Guantanamo lease treaty. Cuba says there has been no lease in a half century.
Washington has slowly been sending Guantanamo prisoners back to their home countries or to third countries, something that needs to continue if the facility is to shut, Earnest said.
The US said last month that a group of six Yemeni detainees were transferred to Oman. Other detainees need to be prosecuted or reviewed for release, he said.
A new special envoy tasked with closing the prison was also recently appointed by Kerry.
Lee Wolosky, a lawyer who worked under former US presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, was chosen as the State Department’s Special Envoy for Guantanamo Closure. The post, which oversees the transfers of detainees, had been vacant since December.
However, the transfer of detainees to the US is opposed by Congress, and some lawmakers have tried to halt all transfers out of Guantanamo, saying the releases could lead to more attacks.
Last month, the Senate endorsed a bill that strengthens restrictions on the closure of the Guantanamo prison, a plan Obama has threatened to veto.
As the sun sets on another scorching Yangon day, the hot and bothered descend on the Myanmar city’s parks, the coolest place to spend an evening during yet another power blackout. A wave of exceptionally hot weather has blasted Southeast Asia this week, sending the mercury to 45°C and prompting thousands of schools to suspend in-person classes. Even before the chaos and conflict unleashed by the military’s 2021 coup, Myanmar’s creaky and outdated electricity grid struggled to keep fans whirling and air conditioners humming during the hot season. Now, infrastructure attacks and dwindling offshore gas reserves mean those who cannot afford expensive diesel
Does Argentine President Javier Milei communicate with a ghost dog whose death he refuses to accept? Forced to respond to questions about his mental health, the president’s office has lashed out at “disrespectful” speculation. Twice this week, presidential spokesman Manuel Adorni was asked about Milei’s English Mastiff, Conan, said to have died seven years ago. Milei, 53, had Conan cloned, and today is believed to own four copies he refers to as “four-legged children.” Or is it five? In an interview with CNN this month, Milei referred to his five dogs, whose faces and names he had engraved on the presidential baton. Conan,
French singer Kendji Girac, who was seriously injured by a gunshot this week, wanted to “fake” his suicide to scare his partner who was threatening to leave him, prosecutors said on Thursday. The 27-year-old former winner of France’s version of The Voice was found wounded after police were called to a traveler camp in Biscarrosse on France’s southwestern coast. Girac told first responders he had accidentally shot himself while tinkering with a Colt .45 automatic pistol he had bought at a junk shop, a source said. On Thursday, regional prosecutor Olivier Janson said, citing the singer, that he wanted to “fake” his suicide
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi reaffirmed his pledge to replace India’s religion-based marriage and inheritance laws with a uniform civil code if he returns to office for a third term, a move that some minority groups have opposed. In an interview with the Times of India listing his agenda, Modi said his government would push for making the code a reality. “It is clear that separate laws for communities are detrimental to the health of society,” he said in the interview published yesterday. “We cannot be a nation where one community is progressing with the support of the Constitution while the other