December 31, 2001	Monday	Shawwal 15, 1422

HAVANA, Dec 30: Cuban legislators are opposing US plans to use its Guantanamo Bay naval base as a site to hold prisoners from the war in Afghanistan.

The Cuban government has not yet taken an official position on US plans to use its Guantanamo Bay naval base as a site to hold prisoners from the war in Afghanistan, according to a government statement released on Sunday.

The Cuban government “does not have the information necessary and has therefore not taken any position,” according to a statement from the foreign ministry.

“Even though it is national Cuban territory, (Guantanamo) is the site of a US military installation,” the statement noted.

The statement alluded to the ongoing dispute between Washington and Havana over the installation — a standoff “which has existed for many years and which has yet to be resolved.”

Cuba considers the 49 sq-kms base to be its sovereign territory.

Just 850 kms from Miami, the US base at Guantanamo is home to some 500 US troops. The base provides logistical support for US ships and aircraft that conduct counter-narcotics operations in the Caribbean.

US President Theodore Roosevelt signed a lease in perpetuity with Cuba on Feb 23, 1903, to lease the military post at Guantanamo Bay for which Washington pays annual rent of 4,085 dollars.

On Thursday US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld announced that Taliban and Al-Qaeda prisoners being held by US forces at a base in Afghanistan and aboard ship in the Gulf of Oman will be moved to the Guantanamo base, just south of Havana.

Analysts said Guantanamo is an ideal place for US military authorities to house the prisoners, providing proximity to the US mainland while being beyond the convenient reach of the US legal system and journalists.

Rumsfeld indicated that Washington was indifferent to Cuba’s sensitivity about the base.

“We don’t anticipate trouble with Mr Castro in that regard,” said Rumsfeld on Thursday.

The United States currently holds eight suspected Taliban and Al-Qaeda fighters aboard the USS Peleliu, and 62 more at a US Marine base near Kandahar.

The base has room for 40 but can house thousands under emergency conditions.

Between 1994 and 1996, the Guantanamo Bay post harboured nearly 50,000 Cubans and Haitians refugees who had been trying to reach the United States.—AFP