Uruguay leader confirms Guantanamo deal, chides US on Cuba

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Agence France-Presse

Uruguay leader confirms Guantanamo deal, chides US on Cuba
AFP
December 6, 2014, 6:36 am


Montevideo (AFP) - Uruguayan President Jose Mujica confirmed Friday that his country would take in six Guantanamo inmates, using the occasion to urge President Barack Obama to lift the US embargo on Cuba.

In an open letter published the day after Uruguayan media reported the prisoners would be transferred by the end of the year, Mujica confirmed the deal -- though without giving a date -- and called on Obama to end the "unjust and unjustifiable embargo on our sister republic of Cuba."

The leftist leader called the move a humanitarian gesture for "human beings who were suffering an atrocious kidnapping at Guantanamo."

Mujica has faced criticism at home since announcing in March that the South American country would take in the inmates in an effort to help Obama fulfill his long-delayed promise to close the prison.


Read more: https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/world/a/25702948/

[Comrade Grumpy]

1. Good for Pepe. I'm sorry he's leaving office soon.

[uhnope]

2. Hagel was blocking Guantanamo progress and that's why he OUT!

Significantly, however, delays by Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel in signing off on the arrangement placed it in jeopardy. Mr. Hagel’s slow pace this year in approving proposed transfers of low-level detainees contributed to larger tensions with the White House before his resignation under pressure last month.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/08/world/americas/us-transfers-6-guantanamo-detainees-to-uruguay.html

[Snow Leopard]

3. are they just

going to another prison? what's the diff?

[uhnope]

4. it's in the article

Under Mujica's plan, the Guantanamo inmates would be treated like any other residents and be allowed to travel freely.

Mujica, a former guerrilla known for legalizing marijuana, giving most of his salary to charity and living in a run-down farmhouse, has said he sympathizes with the men's plight because of the 13 years he spent as a political prisoner.