Cuba to U.S.: Return Gitmo to us

According to Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque, the island’s government wants the return of the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo. Perez Roque’s comments were made nearly a week after U.S. president Barack Obama ordered the base’s jail to be closed within a year:

Perez Roque said that U.S. President Barack Obama's decision to close within a year the "war on terror" prison at the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay was positive but insufficient.

Cuba expects that Obama's decision to close down the Guantanamo prison camp "is followed by the decision to close down the base and return that territory to the Cubans," a base that the United States "really does not need for its security and defense," Perez Roque said.

In addition, Perez Roque announced the planned visit of the U.N. special investigator on torture to visit Cuba and said that Cuba will soon sign the International Convention on the Protection of All Persons from Forced Disappearance.

The U.S. has permanently leased the land at Guantanamo for over a century and the contract can only be broken with expressed written consent from the U.S. and Cuban governments.

Meanwhile, Cuban President Raul Castro is visiting Moscow and meeting with his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev.

Image- CBS News
Online Sources- The Latin Americanist, Earthtimes, Radio Netherlands Worldwide, Reuters, Calgary Herald