CubaMinrex. Sitio del Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores de Cuba

US Bans Guantanamo Visits

Washington, Jun 15, 2006. (Prensa Latina) The US military command cancelled the already limited visits of lawyers and journalists to the Guantanamo naval base after three prisoners died in that enclave.

According to lawyers of the New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), the restriction against legal representatives almost coincided with a denial to reporters interested in visiting the military base.

Journalists aspiring to enter the prison were from the Los Angeles Times, Miami Herald and Charlotte Observer papers.

CCR lawyer Barbara Olshansky said although her colleagues suspected the visits would be suddenly suspended, they would bring a lawsuit before Washington federal court to obtain access to their clients.

Olshansky noted the base authorities cited the soldiers were collaborating with an inquiry by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service into the three suicides and could not receive visitors.

Pentagon spokesman Lieutenant Commander Jeffrey D. Gordon said the press people´s trip was cancelled because the military trials they were to cover were suspended.

Other media threatened to sue if they were not allowed to enter the base after the death of three prisoners who hung themselves in their cells.

Experts from the International Committee of the Red Cross released they would visit the detention camp and repeated their concern about the convicts´ uncertainty over their fate or inadequate legal status, which affects their physical health.

 

 

 

 

 

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