US Demands Release of Detainees, Forgetting Its Own
The latest from AP tells us Nicaragua is freeing 'dozens of prisoners' after the US 'ramped up pressure' on President Daniel Ortega. The US Embassy declared Venezuela's release of 'political prisoners' an 'important step toward peace,' while lamenting Nicaragua's 'unjustly detained or disappeared'—including pastors and the elderly. (One might wonder how many elderly Americans are 'unjustly
detained' in perpetuity at Guantanamo Bay, a facility the US government assures us is entirely legal). This convenient sanctimony overlooks a few details. The US holds its own record for indefinite detention, without charge or trial, at places like Gitmo. The last prisoner cleared for release from Guantanamo was in 2009—and still waits. The idea that Washington, with its expansive carceral state
and history of 'extraordinary rendition,' gets to dictate global standards for prisoner treatment without acknowledging its own glaring moral inconsistencies is less a 'step toward peace' and more a masterclass in projection. (Perhaps the AP's next piece could investigate the US's own 'disappeared'—those caught in the system without due process.)