{"id":176439676,"date":"2014-07-07T00:00:29","date_gmt":"2014-07-07T05:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/?p=176439676"},"modified":"2014-07-07T00:00:29","modified_gmt":"2014-07-07T05:00:29","slug":"history-photo-essay-gitmos-orignal-sin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/2014\/07\/07\/history-photo-essay-gitmos-orignal-sin\/","title":{"rendered":"HISTORY + PHOTO ESSAY: Gitmo&#8217;s Orignal Sin"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/politico1.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-176439677\" alt=\"politico\" src=\"http:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/politico1.jpg\" width=\"365\" height=\"52\" srcset=\"https:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/politico1.jpg 365w, https:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/politico1-300x42.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 365px) 100vw, 365px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<header>\n<h1><span style=\"font-size: xx-large; color: #000000;\"><strong>Gitmo\u2019s Original Sin<\/strong><\/span><\/h1>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The Guantanamo refugee crisis that everyone forgot.<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/header>\n<footer><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #000000;\">By LIZ \u0160EVCENKO WITH JULIA THOMAS<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/footer>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_176439678\" style=\"width: 757px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"http:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/gitmo-01.jpg\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-176439678\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\" wp-image-176439678  \" alt=\"Photograph courtesy of Steve Brown, U.S. Army Ret. \" src=\"http:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/gitmo-01-1024x555.jpg\" width=\"747\" height=\"404\" srcset=\"https:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/gitmo-01-1024x555.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/gitmo-01-300x162.jpg 300w, https:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/gitmo-01-920x498.jpg 920w, https:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/gitmo-01.jpg 1160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 747px) 100vw, 747px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-176439678\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: small;\"><strong>Photograph courtesy of Steve Brown, U.S. Army Ret.<\/strong><\/span><\/p><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">Even Ronald Aubourg, a translator for Gitmo\u2019s Haitian refugees, told me he was shocked to see Camp X-Ray\u2014a facility built in 1994 to discipline Cuban refugees\u2014appear on his TV screen in 2002. \u201c<\/span><em style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">That<\/em><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">\u00a0place?\u201d he wondered. \u201cI thought it was closed!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">Pictured above, Sept. 27, 1994: Nearly 13,000 Haitians, many of whom face the difficult decision of volunteering to be repatriated or waiting until Aristide returns to power, remain at Gitmo.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_176439680\" style=\"width: 748px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"http:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/gitmo-02.jpg\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-176439680\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\" wp-image-176439680 \" alt=\"Photograph by PA2 Telfair H. Brown, courtesy of the U.S. Coast Guard \" src=\"http:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/gitmo-02-1024x555.jpg\" width=\"738\" height=\"399\" srcset=\"https:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/gitmo-02-1024x555.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/gitmo-02-300x162.jpg 300w, https:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/gitmo-02-920x498.jpg 920w, https:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/gitmo-02.jpg 1160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 738px) 100vw, 738px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-176439680\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: small;\"><strong>Photograph by PA2 Telfair H. Brown, courtesy of the U.S. Coast Guard<\/strong><\/span><\/p><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">From 1991 to 1993, tens of thousands of Haitians fled political violence after the Haitian army staged a coup d\u2019\u00e9tat that overthrew President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. They set out for Miami on makeshift rafts. President George H.W. Bush, after deciding that his policy of accepting some refugees and sending the rest back to Haiti was too overwhelming for the U.S. Coast Guard, ordered all Haitian refugees brought to Guant\u00e1namo, where they would not overtax stateside facilities and could be processed outside of U.S. legal protections.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">Above, a crewman of the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Mohawk directs Haitian refugees through a megaphone as they board the ship, which will ultimately bring them to Gitmo on Oct. 1, 1991.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_176439681\" style=\"width: 748px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"http:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/gitmo-03.jpg\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-176439681\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\" wp-image-176439681 \" alt=\"Courtesy of Merrill Smith \" src=\"http:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/gitmo-03-1024x555.jpg\" width=\"738\" height=\"399\" srcset=\"https:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/gitmo-03-1024x555.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/gitmo-03-300x162.jpg 300w, https:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/gitmo-03-920x498.jpg 920w, https:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/gitmo-03.jpg 1160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 738px) 100vw, 738px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-176439681\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: small;\"><strong>Courtesy of Merrill Smith<\/strong><\/span><\/p><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: medium; color: #000000;\">Eventually, more than 20,000 refugees\u2014all seeking asylum in the United States\u2014came to be held in hastily erected tent cities at Guant\u00e1namo.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: medium; color: #000000;\">Above, a tent city for Haitian refugees on the base\u2019s runway tarmac in 1992, which was hot and dangerous for children due to tent spikes.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_176439682\" style=\"width: 748px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"http:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/gitmo-04.jpg\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-176439682\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\" wp-image-176439682 \" alt=\"Photograph by Jeffrey A. Salter, courtesy of the Miami Herald \" src=\"http:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/gitmo-04-1024x555.jpg\" width=\"738\" height=\"399\" srcset=\"https:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/gitmo-04-1024x555.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/gitmo-04-300x162.jpg 300w, https:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/gitmo-04-920x498.jpg 920w, https:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/gitmo-04.jpg 1160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 738px) 100vw, 738px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-176439682\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: small;\"><strong>Photograph by Jeffrey A. Salter, courtesy of the Miami Herald<\/strong><\/span><\/p><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">At the height of the refugee crisis, more than 20,000 people were crammed in a space equipped for only 5,000. Though conditions in the camps varied, at its worst, Haitian refugee advocate\u00a0<a><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Yolande Jean<\/span><\/a>\u00a0remembered: \u201cWe were in a space cordoned off with barbed wire. Wherever they put you, you were meant to stay right there; there was no place to move. The latrines were brimming over\u2026 there was never any cool water to drink, to wet our lips. There was only water in a cistern, boiling in the hot sun. When you drank it, it gave you diarrhea\u2026 Rats crawled over us at night\u2026 When we saw all these things, we thought, it\u2019s not possible, it can\u2019t go on like this. We\u2019re humans, just like everyone else.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">Above, a Haitian refugee holds her one-year-old baby in an overcrowded tent city at Gitmo on Sept. 2, 1994.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_176439683\" style=\"width: 748px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"http:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/gitmo-05.jpg\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-176439683\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\" wp-image-176439683 \" alt=\"Courtesy of Col. Stephen Kinder. \" src=\"http:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/gitmo-05-1024x555.jpg\" width=\"738\" height=\"399\" srcset=\"https:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/gitmo-05-1024x555.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/gitmo-05-300x162.jpg 300w, https:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/gitmo-05-920x498.jpg 920w, https:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/gitmo-05.jpg 1160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 738px) 100vw, 738px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-176439683\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: small;\"><strong>Courtesy of Col. Stephen Kinder.<\/strong><\/span><\/p><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">Caught in Gitmo\u2019s legal black hole, able neither to return to Haiti nor to enter the United States, they were essentially left for dead until June 1993, when a team of students led by then-Yale law professor Harold Koh led a lawsuit against the U.S. government on behalf of the Haitian refugees to grant them constitutional rights (such as legal counsel before repatriation) and release them from detention.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">Simultaneously, the detainees staged a hunger strike that caught the attention of the world\u2019s media.\u00a0 A massive social movement grew to \u201cclose Guant\u00e1namo,\u201d led by ACT-UP, Haitian rights advocates and others, with street protests and sympathy hunger strikes. Famous figures from Jesse Jackson to Susan Sarandon came out to support the cause and helped raise public awareness.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">Above, Haitians detained at Gitmo visit a makeshift chapel in a refugee camp in 1992.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_176439685\" style=\"width: 748px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"http:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/gitmo-06.jpg\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-176439685\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\" wp-image-176439685 \" alt=\"USCG photo by PA1 Eric Eggen, courtesy of Holly Ackerman \" src=\"http:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/gitmo-06-1024x555.jpg\" width=\"738\" height=\"399\" srcset=\"https:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/gitmo-06-1024x555.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/gitmo-06-300x162.jpg 300w, https:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/gitmo-06-920x498.jpg 920w, https:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/gitmo-06.jpg 1160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 738px) 100vw, 738px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-176439685\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: small;\"><strong>USCG photo by PA1 Eric Eggen, courtesy of Holly Ackerman<\/strong><\/span><\/p><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">In 1993, the case\u00a0<em>Haitian Centers Council, Inc. v. Sale\u00a0<\/em>came before U.S. District Court Judge Sterling Johnson, who during the trial demanded of an attorney whether the government was seriously claiming the right to \u201ctake a group and put them into a compound, whether you call it a humanitarian camp or a prison, keep them there indefinitely while there has been no charge leveled against them and there is no light at the end of the tunnel?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">On June 8, 1993, Johnson ordered the government to close the camps.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">Above, Haitian refugees interdicted at sea in the Windward Passage await their arrival at Gitmo aboard a crowded Coast Guard cutter on Dec. 1, 1991.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_176439686\" style=\"width: 748px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"http:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/gitmo-07.jpg\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-176439686\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\" wp-image-176439686 \" alt=\"Photograph by Carl Juste, Courtesy of the Miami Herald \" src=\"http:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/gitmo-07-1024x555.jpg\" width=\"738\" height=\"399\" srcset=\"https:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/gitmo-07-1024x555.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/gitmo-07-300x162.jpg 300w, https:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/gitmo-07-920x498.jpg 920w, https:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/gitmo-07.jpg 1160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 738px) 100vw, 738px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-176439686\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: small;\"><strong>Photograph by Carl Juste, Courtesy of the Miami Herald<\/strong><\/span><\/p><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">The Clinton administration agreed to give up the people\u2014admitting them back into the United States\u2014but not the place. In exchange for the release of all refugees, the decision was struck from case law, ensuring that it could not provide precedent for future cases. As a result, the government\u2019s right to detain indefinitely remained intact, leaving Gitmo wide open for future use.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">Above, Aug. 19, 1994: Haitian detainee dressed in ceremonial white participates in a demonstration in protest of U.S. policy at Guant\u00e1namo.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_176439687\" style=\"width: 748px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"http:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/gitmo-08.jpg\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-176439687\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\" wp-image-176439687 \" alt=\"Photograph courtesy of Merrill Smith \" src=\"http:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/gitmo-08-1024x555.jpg\" width=\"738\" height=\"399\" srcset=\"https:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/gitmo-08-1024x555.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/gitmo-08-300x162.jpg 300w, https:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/gitmo-08-920x498.jpg 920w, https:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/gitmo-08.jpg 1160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 738px) 100vw, 738px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-176439687\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: small;\"><strong>Photograph courtesy of Merrill Smith<\/strong><\/span><\/p><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">The facility was reopened just a year later, this time for more than 30,000 fleeing Fidel Castro\u2019s Cuba. President Clinton called Gitmo a \u201csafe haven\u201d for the refugees, which in many ways it was. But, the essence of the place remained: Refugees were held behind barbed wire, with no news of whether or when they would be released. To\u00a0<em>balsero\u00a0<\/em>Sergio Lastres, \u201cIt felt like a prison. Simply because a place that keeps you against your will seems like prison.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">Almost all were ultimately admitted to the United States. The last Cuban refugee waved goodbye to Gitmo in 1996, six years before the first \u201cenemy combatants\u201d from the war on terror arrived.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">Pictured above, a military hangar used by the United Nations to conduct interviews with Haitian refugees at Gitmo in 1992 about the possibility of voluntary repatriation.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_176439688\" style=\"width: 748px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"http:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/gitmo-09.jpg\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-176439688\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\" wp-image-176439688 \" alt=\"Photograph courtesy of Merrill Smith \" src=\"http:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/gitmo-09-1024x555.jpg\" width=\"738\" height=\"399\" srcset=\"https:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/gitmo-09-1024x555.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/gitmo-09-300x162.jpg 300w, https:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/gitmo-09-920x498.jpg 920w, https:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/gitmo-09.jpg 1160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 738px) 100vw, 738px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-176439688\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: small;\"><strong>Photograph courtesy of Merrill Smith<\/strong><\/span><\/p><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">Public memory of Guant\u00e1namo fades fast. The\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.gitmomemory.org\/\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Guant\u00e1namo Public Memory Project<\/span><\/a>\u00a0has surveyed more than 500 people\u2014including history graduate students, veterans and members of Congress\u2014in a dozen cities from Indianapolis to Istanbul about their understanding and attitudes about the facility. Almost no one was aware that Gitmo had a life before 9\/11.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">Above, U.S. Joint Task Force officers confront Haitian demonstrators held in one of Gitmo\u2019s refugee camps in 1992.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_176439689\" style=\"width: 932px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"http:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/gitmo-10.jpg\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-176439689\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-large wp-image-176439689\" alt=\"Photograph by Carl Juste, courtesy of the Miami Herald \" src=\"http:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/gitmo-10-1024x555.jpg\" width=\"922\" height=\"499\" srcset=\"https:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/gitmo-10-1024x555.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/gitmo-10-300x162.jpg 300w, https:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/gitmo-10-920x498.jpg 920w, https:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/gitmo-10.jpg 1160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 922px) 100vw, 922px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-176439689\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: small;\"><strong>Photograph by Carl Juste, courtesy of the Miami Herald<\/strong><\/span><\/p><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">Even Ronald Aubourg, a translator for Gitmo\u2019s Haitian refugees, told me he was shocked to see Camp X-Ray\u2014a facility built in 1994 to discipline Cuban refugees\u2014appear on his TV screen in 2002. \u201c<em>That<\/em>\u00a0place?\u201d he wondered. \u201cI thought it was closed!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">Pictured above, Sept. 27, 1994: Nearly 13,000 Haitians, many of whom face the difficult decision of volunteering to be repatriated or waiting until Aristide returns to power, remain at Gitmo.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_176439690\" style=\"width: 748px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"http:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/gitmo-11.jpg\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-176439690\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\" wp-image-176439690 \" alt=\"Photograph courtesy of Col. Stephen Kinder \" src=\"http:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/gitmo-11-1024x555.jpg\" width=\"738\" height=\"399\" srcset=\"https:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/gitmo-11-1024x555.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/gitmo-11-300x162.jpg 300w, https:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/gitmo-11-920x498.jpg 920w, https:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/gitmo-11.jpg 1160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 738px) 100vw, 738px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-176439690\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: small;\"><strong>Photograph courtesy of Col. Stephen Kinder<\/strong><\/span><\/p><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">Why does this matter? Because it means no one is imagining a life after the current headlines disappear. The transfer of five Gitmo detainees gets us back on track toward removing prisoners from the Guant\u00e1namo camp, but Guant\u00e1namo is far from fading away. The lease with Cuba is indefinite; the legal black hole into which thousands have fallen remains ready to suck in more. In 2007, the U.S. government began building new facilities capable of holding 25,000 refugees. If we care about our country\u2019s commitment to justice, we must remember the long road we took to this place and decide whether this legal purgatory is really what we want for the future.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">Above, refugees pose with makeshift boats, which may have been used to flee Haiti, in late 1992.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\">++++++++++++++++++++++++++<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: medium;\"><strong><em>Liz\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><em><strong>\u0160evcenko<\/strong> is director of the\u00a0<\/em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gitmomemory.org\/\" target=\"_blank\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><em>Guant\u00e1namo\u00a0<\/em><\/span><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gitmomemory.org\/\" target=\"_blank\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><em>Public Memory Project<\/em><\/span><\/a><em>,\u00a0a collaboration among 15 universities led by\u00a0<\/em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.hrcolumbia.org\/\" target=\"_blank\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><em>Columbia University&#8217;s Institute for the Study of Human Rights<\/em>\u00a0<\/span><\/a><em>to build public awareness of the long history of the U.S. naval station at\u00a0<\/em><em>Guant\u00e1namo Bay, Cuba, and foster dialogue on the future of this place and the policies it shapes. <strong>Julia Thomas<\/strong> is the GPMP\u2019s Project Manager.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&gt;via:<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Gitmo\u2019s Original Sin The Guantanamo refugee crisis that everyone forgot. &nbsp; &nbsp; By LIZ \u0160EVCENKO WITH JULIA THOMAS &nbsp; Even Ronald Aubourg, a translator for Gitmo\u2019s Haitian refugees, told me he was shocked to see Camp X-Ray\u2014a facility built in 1994 to discipline Cuban refugees\u2014appear on his TV [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","_s2mail":"yes"},"categories":[6],"tags":[4,12,11],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176439676"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=176439676"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176439676\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":176439742,"href":"https:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176439676\/revisions\/176439742"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=176439676"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=176439676"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=176439676"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}