Strange Palau-Cuba Connection

By Circles Robinson

HAVANA TIMES, Nov. 2 – The tiny Pacific Island nation of Palau, population 20,000, has been in the news twice in the last week both times involving Cuba, another much larger island in the Caribbean, 90 miles from Florida.

The first came on Wednesday when Palau’s ambassador in New York voted with Israel to support the US blockade on Cuba.

In that UN General Assembly vote, a record 187 countries told the Obama administration that it should bring an end to the hostile policy towards its neighbor to the southeast.

The second came Saturday when six Chinese Muslims -held without a trial for over seven years at the US Guantanamo Naval Base on occupied Cuban territory-, were flown to Palau.

There they will try to start a new life and overcome the traumas of the torture and lack of prisoner rights that have characterized the prison camp that President Obama hopes to close.

Over two-hundred prisoners still remain at the internationally deplored off-shore facility, an ongoing embarrassment for the United States.