Political Geography: Cuba / Topic: Guantanamo Bay

Author:: Bridge Initiative Team
Publication Date:: 07-2020
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: The Bridge Initiative, Georgetown University
Abstract:: Guantánamo Bay Naval Base, located in Cuba, was chosen as the site of a detention center due to its uncertain legal status—allowing the U.S. government to argue that those detained at the base were not entitled to certain rights under U.S. laws. The prison at the base consists of several distinct camps, each with differing security levels, transparency, and categories of detainees. Former President Barack Obama promised to close the prison but failed to do so. Former President Donald Trump pledged to not only keep the prison open but fill it with more detainees. Current President Joe Biden has promised to shut down the military prison.
Topic:: Prisons/Penal Systems, War on Terror, Detention, and Guantanamo Bay
Political Geography:: Cuba, North America, and United States of America

Author:: Bridge Initiative Team
Publication Date:: 07-2020
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: The Bridge Initiative, Georgetown University
Abstract:: Guantánamo Bay military prison is a site of egregious and ongoing human rights violations perpetrated by the United States government. Opened in early 2002 on a U.S. naval base in Cuba, the prison has housed 780 adults and minors from around the world—all Muslim—most of whom have been subjected to torture and severe abuse at the hands of the U.S. armed forces and the CIA. Most were never formally charged with any crime and were detained for years without trial. As of 2022, thirty-nine remain imprisoned at Guantánamo Bay prison.
Topic:: Human Rights, Torture, Prisons/Penal Systems, War on Terror, Guantanamo Bay, and Arbitrary Detentions
Political Geography:: Cuba, North America, and United States of America

Author:: Bridge Initiative Team
Publication Date:: 07-2020
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: The Bridge Initiative, Georgetown University
Abstract:: U.S. legislation and case law have both upheld and challenged the legal authority of the Guantánamo Bay military prison. This includes the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) and the Military Commissions Act of 2006, as well as Supreme Court cases such as Hamdan v. Rumsfeld (2006) and Boumediene v. Bush (2008). Serious legal issues have arisen around the legal rights and protections of those imprisoned, including the right to habeas corpus and the right to be tried under the U.S. legal system (as opposed to U.S. military tribunals). Attorneys for those imprisoned at Guantánamo Bay military prison have been subjected to surveillance and interference by the U.S. government, and the U.S. government tightly controls the release of information about the military prison and those imprisoned there.
Topic:: Human Rights, Law, Guantanamo Bay, and Habeas Corpus
Political Geography:: Cuba, United States of America, and Guantanamo

Author:: Bridge Initiative Team
Publication Date:: 07-2020
Content Type:: Working Paper
Institution:: The Bridge Initiative, Georgetown University
Abstract:: A majority of those imprisoned at the Guantánamo Bay Detention Camp were subjected to various forms of physical and psychological abuse—techniques that were developed by two American psychologists contracted by the CIA to develop its torture program. The torture included but was not limited to waterboarding, sexual harassment and abuse, physical abuse, and sleep deprivation. Those formerly imprisoned still experience physical and psychological distress and trauma as a result of their treatment in Guantánamo Bay. A 2014 U.S. Senate intelligence report found the torture program was ineffective in its stated goal of obtaining military intelligence.
Topic:: Human Rights, Torture, Trauma, and Guantanamo Bay
Political Geography:: Cuba, United States of America, and Guantanamo

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