HAVANA (voa) – Senior Cuban officials have spoken out against plans by the United States to bring Taleban and al-Qaida prisoners captured in Afghanistan to the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay.
Several top officials told reporters in Havana that Washington has no right to hold prisoners at Guantanamo because the 49 square kilometer base is Cuba’s sovereign territory.
Cuba’s communist government officially has not announced its position on the subject.
The United States established the base at Guantanamo Bay in 1898 and leased the property in 1903.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld last week called Guantanamo Bay the “least worse place” the United States could have chosen to hold al-Qaida and Taleban prisoners. He also said he did not anticipate any trouble from the Cuban government.
