When I was seven years old, I moved to an American Navy base called Guantanamo Bay (GTMO), Cuba.  I moved there in 1998, at that time not many people knew that it existed. Then, on September 11, 2001 my life changed. I was young at the time, but I knew that something bad had happened and that there were going to be many changes in Guantanamo Bay (GTMO), Cuba.  The following December I was told that the people who crashed planes were going to be imprisoned in GTMO. Ever since then I saw GTMO all over the news, I used to think it was the coolest thing in the world, until I saw what they were saying. It’s true at first the prisoners were treated horribly when the prison first started, but all of that changed when the government sent the JTF there, the Joint Task Force.

They are soldiers from all branches of the military who are stationed there for 6 months maximum. When we lived in GTMO, my father was scuba diving instructor and a lot of soldiers decided that while they were there, they might as well get a scuba diving license. They were always at our house, sometimes they would tell us about their horrible days. They would tell us how the prisoners would spit on them and yell at them. I know for a fact that on the news, they were broadcasting a different story. They would say that GTMO was a torture camp where human rights didn’t exist.

Why would American news companies create stories that put our military, our heroes as they call them at times, in a bad light? What they are not telling the American people is how the prisoners really get treated. Each prisoner receives special treatment such as free healthcare, special meals, and plenty of other things. One of the translators that we befriended while we were there use to tell us that these prisoners would always say that they never wanted to leave because they receive better treatment than they would receive in their home countries. They received better treatment than the people who actually called GTMO home! For example, if a prisoner needed a special doctor because they needed surgery, the American government would fly one down immediately.

However, at the same time, my friend’s mother needed the same type of doctor, and instead she had to wait for a helicopter to fly to GTMO just to get her to Miami to seek medical treatment. I just don’t understand why the news would not report on this, the American people should have the right to know what their tax money is used on. Would you pay taxes if you knew it was to feed a terrorist good quality food? What really happens in the prisons in GTMO is as good material as a torture facility, so why doesn’t the news let the American people what is really happening.

–Cristina Lara