US should pay to resettle ex-Gitmo detainees – Uruguay president
Uruguayan President Tabare Vazquez said the Obama administration should provide financial aid to six former detainees of Guantánamo Bay prisoners who received asylum in this South American country last year.
The four Syrians, one Tunisian and one Palestinian were freed
from the notorious American detention facility in December and
resettled in Montevideo, the Uruguayan capital.
Former Uruguayan President Jose Mujica made the offer to receive
some Gitmo prisoners, many who are being held without any
charges, saying it would be a humanitarian gesture for "human
beings who were suffering an atrocious kidnapping at
Guantanamo."
READ MORE: US ships 5 more Gitmo detainees home - this time to Kazakhstan
Vazquez said he would bring up the issue of supplying the new
arrivals with financial assistance when he meets with Obama this
week at the Summit of the Americas in Panama.
“Uruguay gave them asylum, but the US government should
provide all the necessary means so that those citizens of other
countries can have a dignified life in our country,” Vazquez
said in statements provided to local media.
Vazquez noted the numerous challenges the men face in adapting to
their new home.
“I put myself in their place and it must be very hard to come
from another part of the world, with other cultures, other
religions, other customs, and be planted in a foreign
country,” said Vazquez. “I’m also worried because their
arrival, this placing of Guantanamo prisoners here, has also
impacted our society.”
Vazquez, newly elected to the presidency on March 1, has said his
country would not accept any more released Guantanamo prisoners.
He has also put on hold a second arrival of Syrian refugees.
READ MORE: 4 Gitmo prisoners repatriated to Afghanistan
The president has said the asylum program required “profound
analysis” before any more former Gitmo detainees could be
accepted. The Uruguay public has quickly changed its attitude
about the new arrivals, who have become somewhat of a financial
burden on this poor country of 3.3 million people.
The men - suspected by the US government of being al-Qaida
militants who spent 12 years in Guantanamo without being charged
for any crimes - reportedly receive a monthly spending allowance
of $600 (15,000 pesos) from the Uruguayan government to cover
basic needs. However, they refused to accept jobs they were
offered in February.
In December, in addition to the six former
detainees sent to Uruguay, the US sent four detainees to
Afghanistan, while another 13 detainees released in 2014 were
shipped to Algeria, Georgia, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Slovakia.
As of January 2015, 122 detainees remain at Guantanamo. A total
of 81 of them are from Yemen.
