The arrival of hundreds of terror suspects at this remote US naval outpost in the Caribbean not only lifted it from obscurity but produced a population boom and a flood of things to keep its new residents happy -- a miniature golf course, Starbucks coffee, a go-kart track and music concerts.
The non-detainee population at Guantanamo has surged from about 2,600 to about 9,500 since the military brought the first prisoners captured in the US-led war against Afghanistan here three years ago. Overnight, a base that had been little more than a sleepy refueling stop for ships gained worldwide fame.
The base's administrators shifted gears quickly from tearing down structures to renovating and building new ones in a rush to provide an adequate working and living quarters for 2,200 troops involved in the detention operation, as well as their family members, contract workers, interrogators and other supporting officials.
Uncertainty shrouds the future of the prison camp, amid court rulings that have undermined the government's argument that 545 detainees from 40 countries are beyond the reach of US courts and are not entitled to the same protections prisoners of war get under the Geneva Conventions. But construction continues under the assumption that most detainees aren't leaving soon.
"As long as there is a global war on terror [the detention mission] is here for the long run," said base commander Navy Captain Les McCoy, who doesn't oversee the prison operation but must take its future into account while running the rest of the base. "The Navy realized it hadn't paid attention to Guantanamo. Now they are looking at us."
Two permanent prison camps that can hold 320 people are meant to replace four temporary prisons, suggesting the military hopes gradually to release or transfer many prisoners through parole hearings or negotiations with their home governments. One prison was completed last year, while work has started on US$35 million facility.
With nearly every building on the base in use, finding adequate housing for soldiers and other support staff has been a headache. Many officers live in housing that was boarded up, overrun with rodents called "banana rats" and on the brink of demolition before the detainees arrived.
Enlisted soldiers are less comfortable, crowded into windowless trailers where each barely has a corner to himself. "Camp America," as the trailer park is known, is closer to the prison camp than the social center of the base, which famously has the only McDonald's in Cuba.
The military hopes eventually to move those soldiers to more permanent housing "downtown," said Commander Anne Marie Reese, an engineer overseeing construction for the detention mission.
"Everyone wants to feel like they are going home after work," Reese said. "Whether we can achieve that 100 percent remains to be seen."
Stuck between the Caribbean sea and a 27km fence that separates it from the rest of communist Cuba, Guantanamo is one of the most isolated US naval stations in the world. The parched land and blistering heat reinforces a sleepy atmosphere.
The population surge has meant more parties, sold-out country and rock concerts and -- the latest excitement -- Starbucks coffee.
A stone's throw away from the barbed wire prison camp, soldiers crowd around one of the four kiosks offering mochas, creamices and iced lattes.
Some 1,400 cups a day have been sold since Starbucks arrived earlier this month.
"Oddly enough, it did lift my morale," said petty officer Barry Tate, arriving for his first cup of the day at another kiosk near the movie theater. "I didn't expect to see it and here it was. It reminds me of home."
Mini-golf hasn't been much of a hit, probably because the course is covered in brown grass and has no obstacles.
But not for long, promises Craig Basel, the official in charge of recreation at the base. By summer, obstacles will include replicas of guard towers and banana rats, he said.
POLITICAL PRISONERS VS DEPORTEES: Venezuela’s prosecutor’s office slammed the call by El Salvador’s leader, accusing him of crimes against humanity Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele on Sunday proposed carrying out a prisoner swap with Venezuela, suggesting he would exchange Venezuelan deportees from the US his government has kept imprisoned for what he called “political prisoners” in Venezuela. In a post on X, directed at Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Bukele listed off a number of family members of high-level opposition figures in Venezuela, journalists and activists detained during the South American government’s electoral crackdown last year. “The only reason they are imprisoned is for having opposed you and your electoral fraud,” he wrote to Maduro. “However, I want to propose a humanitarian agreement that
ECONOMIC WORRIES: The ruling PAP faces voters amid concerns that the city-state faces the possibility of a recession and job losses amid Washington’s tariffs Singapore yesterday finalized contestants for its general election on Saturday next week, with the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) fielding 32 new candidates in the biggest refresh of the party that has ruled the city-state since independence in 1965. The move follows a pledge by Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財), who took office last year and assumed the PAP leadership, to “bring in new blood, new ideas and new energy” to steer the country of 6 million people. His latest shake-up beats that of predecessors Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) and Goh Chok Tong (吳作棟), who replaced 24 and 11 politicians respectively
Young women standing idly around a park in Tokyo’s west suggest that a giant statue of Godzilla is not the only attraction for a record number of foreign tourists. Their faces lit by the cold glow of their phones, the women lining Okubo Park are evidence that sex tourism has developed as a dark flipside to the bustling Kabukicho nightlife district. Increasing numbers of foreign men are flocking to the area after seeing videos on social media. One of the women said that the area near Kabukicho, where Godzilla rumbles and belches smoke atop a cinema, has become a “real
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
RSS