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"Guantanamo: 22 Years of Imprisonment without End... for 30 People"
Expanded Friday rally and march
Friday, January 12, 2024
4:30-6:00 PM
Pioneer Courthouse Square,
SW Yamhill and Broadway
On Friday, January 12 at 4:30 PM Portlanders will gather for a rally and
march calling once again to close down the prison camp in Guantanamo Bay,
Cuba. The US opened this "detention facility" on January 11, 2002,
twenty-two years ago. Thirty (30) people remain there. Most of the
active military aspects of the "war on terror" have subsided and over 700
prisoners have been released. Many of those remaining have never been
charged with a crime. Guantanamo is seen as a blemish on human rights,
including its history of torture and endless incarceration. Brigadier
General Jackie Thompson of the United States Army Judge Advocate General's
(JAG) Corps recently said "Guantanamo is a symbol of what not to do"
(Telesur, November 7, 2023). The event is titled "Guantanamo: 22 Years of
Imprisonment without End... for 30 People."
Efforts to shut down Guantanamo have been hampered by Congressional bills
prohibiting funds being used to do so. Instead, America spends hundreds of
millions of dollars a year to maintain this site of injustice.
The Friday Rally for Peace and Justice has been held weekly since
November, 2001. For the first 18.5 years it was coordinated by Portland
Peaceful Response Coalition, and since March, 2020 by Peace and Justice
Works Iraq Affinity Group. Normally the rally begins at 5 PM; this event
begins at 4:30 to underscore its importance. Due to the ongoing pandemic
we ask that participants mask up and stay distanced. The January 12 event
marks exactly 200 weeks since the IAG began hosting the Friday Rally.
Event coordinated by Peace and Justice Works Iraq Affinity Group,
cosponsored by Amnesty International Group 48.
For more info or to cosponsor the event contact Peace and Justice Works
Iraq Affinity Group: (503) 236-3065 or
iraq@pjw.info.
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Fact Sheet (1/12/24)
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