THE HUNGER GAMES
AT GUANTANAMO
HUFFINGTON
06.09.13
GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, CUBA —
FOR WEEKS, SAID ARMY COL. JOHN V. BOGDAN,
the man in charge of Guantanamo’s detention facilities, he had tried to
bring the crisis to a peaceful resolution. Since early February, a little more
than six months after he took over command here, detainees had been
protesting their treatment. Those in the communal Camp Six had covered
video cameras with empty cereal boxes and other items, preventing U.S.
officials from monitoring their movements. ¶ More than 100 detainees
were participating in a hunger strike, the detainees’ lawyers had been
telling the press and military officials. The military, however, downplayed
the severity of the protest, placing the number of hunger strikers, initially,
at just a half-dozen. One spokesman told CBS News in mid-March that the
idea of a mass hunger strike at the prison was an “utter fabrication,” and
said prisoners were “in fact eating handfuls of trail mix, nuts, and other
food.” Guards pointed to scraps of pita bread and peanut butter in trash
bags as evidence that the hunger strike wasn’t real.
PHOTOGRAPHS BY RYAN J. REILLY
Razor wire
lines the
fences at
Guantanamo
Bay Naval
Base,
where more
than 100
detainees
are staging a
hunger strike.