Seven days into his second administration, Donald Trump ordered the preparation of the US naval base in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, to detain up to 30,000 immigrants. So far, 177 Venezuelans labelled “illegal aliens” have been transferred to the base in shackles and deported to their country days after. Another 17 migrants were sent to Guantánamo last Sunday.
Trump’s decision sparked outrage, and rightly so. But, none of this is anything new in Guantánamo.
I arrived in Guantánamo as a reporter on 27 January 2017, just a week after Trump became president for the first time. In his campaign, he had said “torture works” and promised to fill the illegal military prison with “bad dudes”. Soon after his election win, the prison’s commander Peter Clarke convened his officers at the US military base’s open-air cinema to address their concerns.
