CubaMinrex. Sitio del Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores de Cuba

More Prisoners on Hunger Strike at Guantanamo

Washington, May 30, 2006. (RHC)-- More prisoners have joined the hunger strike at the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay -- located in eastern Cuba and illegally occupied by the United States. According to Prensa Latina news agency, the number has now grown to 75.

Xinhua news reports that the U.S. military is admitting that more prisoners at Guantanamo are refusing to eat, but spokespersons for the detention center claim that the hunger strike is merely an attempt by the prisoners to gain media attention. Commander Robert Durand, a military representative at Guantanamo, told reporters that prisoners are considered hunger strikers if they miss nine consecutive meals. According to reports from the prison, most of the 75 prisoners on strike hit that mark on Sunday.

The U.S. military says that four of the prisoners on hunger strike are being force-fed, including the three who have participated in the protest since last August. Seventy-six prisoners began the hunger strike in August last year to protest their indefinite confinement. A month later, the number of hunger strikers grew to 131, according to the military, but reportedly went down to three earlier this year.

Prensa Latina news agency says that the main problem is the U.S. government's total disregard for the widespread international call to end the torture of detainees and for the prisons immediate closure. From governments to human rights organizations to the United Nations itself, more voices are being raised -- demanding that the United States simply shut down Guantanamo... now!

 

 

 

 

<< Back