Pool photo by Brennan Linsley
A total of six low-level Guantánamo Bay detainees will be sent to Uruguay as early as next month. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel secretly notified Congress, and all six have been approved for transfer for more than four years. The move had been stalled in the political turmoil over a prisoner-exchange deal that secured Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl’s release. The six men include a Syrian man who was challenging the Pentagon’s force-feeding policy for those on hunger strike. “The United States is grateful to our partner, Uruguay, for this significant humanitarian gesture, and appreciates the Uruguayan government’s generous assistance as the United States continues its efforts to close the detention facility at Guantánamo,” said a State Department spokesman. The group will be the largest to leave the prison since 2009, and will bring the population there down to 143. Within that number, 72 have been recommended for transfer, 71 have not.