Carlos Alberto Montaner at PostGlobal

Carlos Alberto Montaner

Madrid, Spain

Carlos Alberto Montaner is a Cuban-born writer, journalist, and former professor. He is one of the most influential and widely-read columnists in the Spanish-language media, syndicated in dozens of publications in Latin America, Spain and the United States. He is also vice president of the Liberal International, a London-based federation devoted to the defense of democratic values and the promotion of the market economy. He has written more than twenty books, including Journey to the Heart of Cuba; How and Why Communism Disappeared; Liberty, the Key to Prosperity; and the novels A Dog's World and 1898: The Plot. He is now based in Madrid, Spain. Close.

Carlos Alberto Montaner

Madrid, Spain

Carlos Alberto Montaner is a Cuban-born writer, journalist, and former professor. He is one of the most influential and widely-read columnists in the Spanish-language media, syndicated in dozens of publications in Latin America, Spain and the United States. more »

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Detainee Conviction a Step Forward

The Current Discussion: A U.S. military tribunal court has convicted Osama bin Laden's driver Salim Hamdan of providing material support for terrorism after detaining him for nearly seven years. Is this a step forward or a step back in the war or terror?


The United States has just convicted the first of the Guantanamo detainees accused of terrorism. It's a step forward. It most likely was an imperfect trial, with many procedural deficiencies, but that is better than what has been happening so far: people imprisoned without the right to a fair trial. I am not sure that this was a fair trial, but at least it was a trial. Unfortunately, in its war against Al Qaeda, the United States has violated many of the principles on which the nation stands. The United States may not torture, even though the al-Qaeda murderers and their henchmen do it. Nor can it incarcerate suspects for years without bringing them to justice. That's called kidnapping, even if the people are guilty. If the United States is a country guided by the rule of law, not a banana republic, it has to impart justice by means of fair laws based on the spirit of the Constitution.

In any case, converting Guantanamo into a territory where the only law is the will of politicians in Washington has been a juridical monstrosity that has enormously discredited the United States, limiting its ability to act on the international arena. How can the country appear today in Geneva before the United Nations' International Commission on Human Rights to protest against the crimes and barbarities committed by countries like Iran and Cuba without having the case of Guantanamo thrown back in its face?

On some occasion, I wrote this: the United States must renounce the use of that naval base, and at the same time tell the Cubans that, when the island has a truly democratic system, Washington will be willing to return to them sovereignty over that territory.

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Posted by Carlos Alberto Montaner on August 7, 2008 12:15 PM

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