Exclusive: Dozens of organizations write to Congress after general announced plan to ‘deal with’ those fleeing any humanitarian crisis on the island
Dozens of US and international human rights organizations are decrying the Trump administration’s plans to establish a migrant “camp” for fleeing Cubans at the Guantánamo Bay military base if the island nation’s crisis worsens under pressure from the US, according to a letter to members of Congress on Friday.
The 85 groups plan to submit the joint letter, exclusively shared with the Guardian, to US senators and House representatives, expressing their “profound concern” with comments made last month by a top Department of Defense commander, and describing any prospect of further migrant detention at the base as “deeply troubling and unacceptable”.
The commander told Congress last month that in the event of what one Republican senator described as “any humanitarian crisis” in Cuba, the Pentagon would “set up a camp” at the Guantánamo Bay US base to “deal with” migrants.
The United Nations already warned in February that Cuba could be on the brink of a humanitarian “collapse” following Donald Trump’s attempts to block oil supplies from reaching the island and the US president repeatedly threatening Cuba’s communist government.
