Last week, Cuban President Raul Castro called out the United States in the wake of our normalizing relations. Castro said, “The re-establishment of diplomatic relations … will not be possible … as long as the territory illegally occupied by the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base is not returned.” Castro went on to state that the base, which was essentially forced over by the Cubans at gunpoint, is a prime representation of everything America claims to be against.

For 12 years, the United States Government has spent $4.7 billion to keep the Guantanamo Bay Detention Facility open. At $2.8 million per prisoner, it is the most expensive detention facility in the world.  A cost that comes mainly at the hands of the American taxpayers.

Today, the base serves as a dreadful ‘home’ for 149 humans. A home that serves no benefit to humanity, one that has separated men from their families and children for shocking amounts of time, a home that chains a man to the floor for an unannounced reason — a home that needs to be closed.

Acquired in 1903, the small military base at Guantanamo was initially used to extend a peaceful military presence in the Caribbean and a docking station for oil ships. The United States pays Cuba a lease — a measly $4085 a year — to use the land for anything and everything.

And since President George W. Bush opened the Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp in 2002, it has been a human rights disaster. Of the 751 humans that have been detained at Guantanamo since 2002, 602 of them were released without charge. Of the remaining 149, seven of them have faced formal charges and only six have been formally tried of those charges. The camp is riddled with deteriorating facilities, frustrated government officials and guards, hunger strikes, torture methods and is a psychological madhouse.

In 2006, Bush ignored the verdict of Boumediene v. Bush — a Supreme Court case dealing with the lawlessness of military tribunals — and signed the Military Commissions Act.  Instead of being provided due process before the law, these detainees were given military tribunals with no lawyer, no evidence, no jury — only a panel of three judges and a bogus reason as to why they were detained.

For example, in 2006, an Omani man was arrested at his market stall simply because his cashier’s pad had a price with the same four numbers as that of a suspicious phone number — to the CIA at least.  The man, who had no prior convictions, was detained at Guantanamo for six years before dying in detainment suffering from his daily mistreatment.

Although many opposing sides claim that these terrorists only deserve death, the numbers seem to suggest otherwise. When 80 percent of detainees have been released without charge, it seems alarming that we continue to even try to justify these detainments. Some may argue that Gitmo is the only facility equipped to handle the high profile terrorists we do detain. But the most high profile of terrorists, Khaled Sheik Mohammed, Osama bin Laden’s second-in-command and the mastermind of 9/11, is actually detained at a SuperMax prison in Colorado.

Aside from the terrorism debate, Castro is spot on. Sure, our relations with Cuba have never been fantastic, but that doesn’t justify continuing the most ludicrous policy of isolationism in the world today. If anything, Castro’s comments should give President Barack Obama the green light to make good on his campaign promise.

Until then, we do not deserve to be the self-proclaimed human rights champion of the world or to pretend to invest in the future of Cuban independence.

And that is something truly disgraceful.

Eric Dunay is a freshman in the School of Architecture. His column appears weekly. He can be contacted at [email protected].

Published on February 10, 2015 at 1:00 am