Cuba’s foreign minister demanded that Washington shut its controversial jail at Guantanamo Bay and return the long-held military base to Havana.
The comments by Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva came a day after US President Barack Obama vowed again to shut the military prison, saying it was damaging US interests.
“We are deeply concerned about the legal limbo that supports the permanent and atrocious violation of human rights at the illegal naval base in Guantanamo, a Cuba territory that was usurped by the United States, a centre of torture and deaths of prisoners who are under custody,” Parrilla said during a review of Cuba’s own rights record.
He said 160 people had been detained in Guantanamo for 10 years, “without any guarantees, without being tried by a court or the right to legal defence”.
“That prison and military base should be shut down and that territory should be returned to Cuba,” he said.