Uruguay to Accept Five Prisoners From Guantanamo

Yesterday, President José Mujica of Uruguay announced to Uruguayan press that he would accept a request from President Obama to receive five inmates from Guantánamo Bay. 

“It’s a human rights issue,” said President Mujica. “There are 120 guys who have been prisoners 13 years that haven’t seen a judge, prosecutor, anybody. The president of the U.S. wants to get rid of this problem.” The weekly Uruguayan magazine Busqueda reported that under the conditions of the agreement, the former prisoners would have to remain within the South American country for two years.

US ambassador to Uruguay Julissa Reynoso denied to Montevideo's "El Espectador" radio show that the deal was done, stating, "That's not correct. We're consulting and in conversation, but there is no deal to make a process like this in Uruguay." She described the five detainees as “non dangerous for the Uruguayan society."

Since Obama took office, the United States has resettled 43 detainees in 17 countries and released 38 to their homelands. Still, 154 remain imprisoned at the facility.