San Salvador Prelate Backs Closing of Guantanamo

Supports Reception of 2 Former Inmates in El Salvador

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SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador, APRIL 24, 2012 (Zenit.org).- On Sunday the archbishop of San Salvador said he hoped the prison in the United States Naval Base of Guantanamo would be closed, and he backed the asylum that the Salvadorian government gave two former inmates of that prison.

Archbishop José Luis Escobar of San Salvador called it a gesture of “humanity” that last Wednesday the government accepted, at the request of the United States, two Muslims of Chinese origin who were released from Guantanamo.

“Let’s hope that the whole Guantanamo prison ends. It would be ideal for the good of the world, of democracy and of liberty,” said the prelate at a press conference after Sunday Mass in the metropolitan cathedral.

Archbishop Escobar added that “world opinion in general is positive” about the release of many of the detained who “have been suffering imprisonment” in Guantanamo “for political reasons.”

“And if in this dynamic, it is for El Salvador to receive two, one or more of the persons who fortunately have been freed, we do not see any inconvenience in it,” he added.

“It is an issue of humanity, it is necessary that we have a solidaristic and positive attitude in face of situations such as these,” stressed the archbishop.

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ZENIT Staff

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