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Puerto Rico lawyers decry Gitmo deployment

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Puerto Rico’s bar association on Tuesday denounced the deployment of 140 soldiers from the island’s National Guard to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, saying it would make the troops complicit in alleged human rights abuses at the U.S. military prison.

The group also approved a resolution calling for the immediate closure of Guantanamo, which has been condemned by U.S. allies for holding hundreds of men for years without charges.

“We join the international outcry for the permanent closure of the Guantanamo naval base and the freedom of the people detained there,” the group said in a statement.

Col. David Carrion Baralt, leader of the island’s Guard, said the Puerto Rican troops will guard the perimeter of the prison camps on the naval base and carry out administrative duties.

The soldiers left in January for the mainland U.S., where they will receive training for several months, said Millie Rosa, a Guard spokeswoman. She did not know when the troops would leave for Cuba.

About 395 men are held at Guantanamo Bay on suspicion of links to the Taliban or al-Qaida. The U.S. government says it has the authority to detain them indefinitely to keep the U.S. safe.