海角大神

In recent years, small Uruguay has seized a large slice of the region鈥檚 attention. Foreign reporters clamor to interview President Jos茅 Mujica at his austere farmhouse. International observers scrutinize his social reforms, including a ground-breaking marijuana legalization law. And now President Mujica, a former guerrilla, is turning heads by offering to take in Guant谩namo Bay detainees.
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Mujica has agreed to give refuge to five detainees, something that would make Uruguay the first country in South America to do so, should the United States accept the gesture.

鈥淚t鈥檚 a disgrace,鈥� Mujica said of the detention camp recently, insisting Uruguay must assume responsibility in helping shut Guant谩namo. 鈥淚鈥檓 doing this for humanity.鈥�
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Activists say the offer is crucial to global efforts to help the Obama administration end what is regarded by many as a human rights scandal. But some view the move as largely political: a perpetuation of Uruguay鈥檚 historic strategy of cozying up to the US to counteract the muscle of its giant neighbors.
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鈥淯ruguay has always sought the US as a big brother to maintain Argentina and Brazil at bay,鈥� says Jay Knarr, author of a book about US-Uruguay relations. 鈥淚ts policymakers are very astute to the need to keep the US happy.鈥�

鈥業mporting鈥� problems?

The offer has drawn criticism at home, however. Some 47 percent of Uruguayans said last month that they disapproved of giving the detainees refuge, according to a public opinion poll. Only 23 percent approved.
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鈥淲e have enough problems here without importing those of others,鈥� said one opposition senator, who hopes to run in presidential elections later this year.听

Guant谩namo, which is located on a US naval base in Cuba, has held听779 detainees since 2002, according to the听, which tracks the prison鈥檚 population. President Obama promised to shut the facility when he came to office in 2009, but the effort stagnated. Amid widespread criticism, Obama reaffirmed the pledge a year ago and sent a new State Department envoy to expedite the release of detainees. But 154 remain.
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Twelve of the detainees need to be resettled in a third country because it is unsafe to send them home, according to Polly Rossdale at Reprieve, an organization in London that provides legal support to 13 detainees and has helped to resettle more than 60 others.
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In a high-profile case in 2009, two detainees whose lives would have been in danger had they returned home to China were nearly resettled in northern Virginia. But the move was stymied by the US Congress, which has since blocked the transfer of detainees to the US.

Since then, 鈥渋t鈥檚 incredibly difficult to get a third country to accept a detainee,鈥� says Michael Mone Jr., a lawyer in Boston who represents a Syrian prisoner,听, who is rumored to be one of the five who would head to Uruguay.
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Mr. Mone successfully relocated an Uzbek detainee to Ireland in 2009, but not without a prolonged fight. He reached out unsuccessfully to several nations, and to human rights organizations in Chile, Argentina, and Brazil. 鈥淓ven though countries were willing to criticize the Bush administration for the obscenity of Guant谩namo, the problem was that none would stick its neck out and take a detainee when the US was not willing to do the same,鈥� he says.听

鈥楢 liberal bastion鈥�

Mujica鈥檚 offer consolidates Uruguay鈥檚 reputation as a liberal and open nation, analysts say.

鈥淯ruguay has always tried to stand out as a liberal bastion,鈥� says Julio Burdman, a professor of international relations and geopolitics in Buenos Aires. This includes the century-long separation between the state and the Catholic Church; the oldest mandatory pension system in Latin America; and recent laws that legalized gay marriage and abortion. 鈥淸Uruguay] has the values to play this card,鈥� Mr. Burdman says.
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A country of around 3.4 million people, Uruguay also has a long tradition of offering asylum. It gave refuge to Argentines who fled political conflict there several decades ago, and in 1999 the US transferred 12 Cuban prisoners held at the naval base in Guant谩namo to Uruguay. The听听highlights Uruguay鈥檚 role as a 鈥渃onsensus builder and mediator in international contexts.鈥�
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While George W. Bush was demonized by late former leaders Hugo Ch谩vez in Venezuela, and N茅stor Kirchner in Argentina, then-President Bush visited Uruguay in 2007, taking a boat ride with then-President Tabar茅 V谩zquez.

Uruguay originally courted the US to overcome its neo-colonial economic relationship with the British. It also sought to distance itself from neighboring Argentina and Brazil, whose battles for territory gave birth to the country. After independence, Brazil and Argentina continued to intervene in Uruguay. Today, there is a underlying听鈥渇ear of latent tendencies,鈥� says Mr. Knarr, reflected by Argentine President Cristina Fern谩ndez de Kirchner鈥檚 controversial claim recently that Uruguay鈥檚 founding father wanted, in fact, to be Argentine.
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Some interpret Mujica鈥檚 offer as astute geopolitics. 鈥淚t will score points with the US,鈥� says Michael Shifter, president of the Inter-American Dialogue, a policy group in Washington. However, Mujica is pushing for concessions.
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After reportedly speaking with Cuban President Ra煤l Castro, Mujica asked the US to free Cuban prisoners 鈥� a reference, most likely, to three intelligence agents 鈥� in exchange for the detainees. He has also shunned a two-year restriction on international travel that Washington wants to impose on the detainees. 鈥淭here鈥檚 no basis for subjecting them to internal controls,鈥� says Miguel Lang贸n, a professor of criminal law in Montevideo. 鈥淭hey have not broken any laws here.鈥�

A prisoner鈥檚 past

Beyond international politicking, there鈥檚 a sense that Mujica鈥檚 turbulent personal past may also play a part in his offer to take the detainees. Mujica was a political prisoner for 14 years after being captured in 1972 for working with the Tupamaros, a violent urban guerrilla movement. He spent more than a decade in solitary confinement.

鈥淭hey are a human wreck; they鈥檙e physically and mentally destroyed because of what they鈥檝e been through,鈥� Mujica said of the detainees in a recent interview with the Associated Press.

鈥淚 think he gets it,鈥� says Mone, the Boston lawyer, referring to Mujica's empathy for those who have spent time in Guant谩namo. 鈥淚 think he understands.鈥�