The Pentagon plans to install a fiber optic cable between the prison at Guantanamo and the American continent, for about $40 million, which means that closing the controversial detention center is not on the agenda of Washington politics, a spokesman said Thursday. U.S. Defense Department agency equipped with communication systems developed for this purpose a “feasibility study” for an estimated $40 million, told AFP Todd Breasseale, a spokesman for the Pentagon. But this project included in the 2013 funding law must first be approved by Congress, he said confirming information provided by the Miami Herald newspaper.
Building a fiber optic cable would significantly improve the telecommunications and the Internet in the U.S. military base at Guantanamo in Cuba, where about 6,000 people are confronted with difficulties in communication with the outside world. The detention camps built on hills overlooking the naval base are still housing 169 prisoners. President Barack Obama promised that he will close them, but so far Congress has opposed. The recent construction of a football field for the prisoners, amounting to $744,000, and the fiber project seem to delay closing the very controversial prison.
“It would be a mistake to believe that the potential use of fiber optic communications cables at the Guantanamo base would be an indication of the lifespan of the detention center,” said Lieutenant Colonel Todd Breasseale. “Our goal remains to close the detention facilities. We have no plan to close the naval base there,” he said. The Naval base, built on land leased in 1993 by the United States from Cuba, is used as a training camp for the U.S. Navy and as a base for humanitarian operations. The prison, built in 1994, has been hosting since 2001 the detainees suspected of terrorism. The prison conditions at the Guantanamo base have revealed the excesses of the “war on terror” started by George W. Bush.
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