Cuba to U.S.: Return Guantanamo to us

The U.S. prison at the Guantanamo Bay military base should be closed and returned to Cuba, according to a senior official on the island. In remarks made to reporters today, Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque said the following:

Cuba rejects "the violation of human rights, unjust incarceration of prisoners held there without charges, and their appearance in courts without guarantees and in which they are convicted in advance,'' he told reporters…

"We demand again the closure of the indecent Guantanamo prison, the return of the territory illegally occupied to our fatherland,'' Perez Roque said.

Whit House spokeswoman Dana Perino remarked yesterday that the U.S. has no permanent military bases around the world with the sole exception of Guantanamo Bay.

Cuba and the U.S. originally agreed to the lease of Guantanamo Bay to the U.S. military via changes to the Platt Amendment in 1934. The current Cuban regime refuses to recognize the lease though the land cannot be returned to Cuba unless the base where abandoned or by mutual consent of both governments.

Sources- Melbourne Herald Sun, SBS, Wikipedia, AFP, NPR

Image- newsday.com