# Why Guantanamo Bay is so hard to close

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/if-you-re-listening-232515/why-guantanamo-bay-is-so-hard-to-close
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/if-you-re-listening-232515/why-guantanamo-bay-is-so-hard-to-close.md
Podcast: [If You're Listening](https://stenobird.com/podcast/if-you-re-listening-232515)
Published: 2026-09-09T15:00:00+00:00
Episode link: https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/if-youre-listening/why-guantanamo-bay-is-so-hard-to-close/107135054
Audio file: https://mediacore-live-production.akamaized.net/audio/02/ob/Z/bm.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/if-you-re-listening-232515/episodes/why-guantanamo-bay-is-so-hard-to-close
Duration seconds: 1755

## Resource

It’s been 25 years since the September 11 attacks, and Guantanamo Bay is still open. But its use as a legal grey zone predates the War on Terror by a decade. In the early 1990s, thousands of Haitians fleeing a coup were held at Guantanamo, including hundreds of HIV-positive refugees held there indefinitely until Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins called it out at the Oscars. A US court ruling from that saga established that America's constitution doesn't apply on the base, because while the US has complete control there under a 1903 treaty, Cuba technically retains sovereignty. That's the same loophole the Bush Administration used when it opened a detention centre there in 2002, and 25 years on, the US still hasn't figured out how to close it. Follow If You're Listening on the ABC Listen app . Check out our series on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDTPrMoGHssAfgMMS3L5LpLNFMNp1U_Nq

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## Transcript

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