- published: 28 Aug 2012
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Guantánamo is a municipality and city in southeast Cuba and capital of Guantánamo Province.
Guantánamo is served by the Caimanera port and is the site of a U.S. Naval base. The area produces sugarcane and cotton wool. These are traditional parts of the economy.
The municipality is mountainous in the north, where it overlays the Sierra Maestra (mountains), and borders the Windward Passage of the Caribbean Sea in the south. It is crossed by the Guantánamo, Yateras, Guaso, San Andrés and Sabanalamar rivers. The Guantánamo Bay is a natural harbour south of the city.
The municipality is divided into the barrios of Arroyo Hondo, Baitiquirí, Bano, Bayate, Caimanera, Camarones, Caridad, Corralillo, Cuatro Caminos, Filipinas, Glorieta, Gobierno, Guaso, Hospital, Indios, Isleta, Jaibo Abajo, Las Lajas, Macurijes, Mercado, Ocujal, Parroquia, Palma de San Juan, Rastro, Tiguabos and Vínculo.
About 15 km away from the city lies the Guantánamo Bay, a superior natural harbor which has been controlled by the United States as the Guantánamo Bay Naval Base since 1902, following the Platt Amendment decree. It is the site of the Guantanamo Bay detention camp.
Dante Terrell Smith (born December 11, 1973) is an American actor and MC, known by the stage names Mos Def ( /ˌmoʊsˈdɛf/) and Yasiin Bey. He started his hip hop career in a group called Urban Thermo Dynamics, after which he appeared on albums by Da Bush Babees and De La Soul. With Talib Kweli, he formed the duo Black Star, which released the album Black Star in 1998. He was a major force in late 1990s underground hip hop while with Rawkus Records. As a solo artist he has released the albums Black on Both Sides in 1999, The New Danger in 2004, True Magic in 2006, and The Ecstatic in 2009.
Although he was initially recognized for his musical output, since the early 2000s, Mos Def's screen work has established him as one of only a handful of rappers who has garnered critical acclaim for his acting work. He is well known for his portrayal of Brother Sam in the American drama series Dexter. Mos Def has also been active in several social and political causes.
He was born Dante Terrell Smith in Brooklyn, New York City, the son of Sheron Smith and Abdul Rahman. He was raised by his mother in Brooklyn; his father lived in New Jersey. While his father was initially a member of the Nation of Islam and later an active member in the community of Imam Warith Deen Mohammed, who merged into mainstream Islam from the Nation, Mos Def was not exposed to Islam until the age of 13. At 19, he took his shahada, the Muslim declaration of faith. He is friends with Ali Shaheed Muhammad and Q-Tip of A Tribe Called Quest.
They haven’t departed.
They haven’t gone home.
The trials haven’t started.
No evidence shown.
They don’t get no visits.
They don’t get no calls,
and nobody tells them nothing at all.
The headphones and the blindfolds,
the days and the weeks.
The overalls of orange, the manacled feet.
A Kafka-esque nightmare.
A legal black hole.
A corner of Cuba
named Guantanamo.
The warmongers tell us
they gave up their rights
when they attacked us
and our way of life.
Oh but our way of life
depends on the law.
On liberty and freedom
and justice for all.
Well they talk about justice in the US of A.
It’s the land of the free and the home of the brave.
Yea, but outside of America anything goes.
From Bagram to Abu Ghraib
to Guantanamo.
In 70's Ulster the government thought
if they locked up the suspects
the terror would stop.
But all that internment actually did
was provide the Provos
with more angry kids.
Oh but sometimes I wonder if our leaders really care?
They rely on these demons to keep people scared.
And unwilling to question the fate of those poor souls who lie
rotting in the cages of Guantanamo
They run for it down the road,
With an arm around her waist,
He leads her to a place,