☕ Why Guantanamo Bay is being expanded

It’s Friday.

Joni Mitchell, Billie Eilish, Katy Perry, Dr Dre, Gwen Stefani and Green Day were just some of the stars who came out in force last night for the LA FireAid show. In the days before the show, organizers said they had already raised $60m from ticket sales and sponsorships, all to be distributed to those who need short-term relief from the devastating wildfires. As Billy Crystal, who lost his home of 46 years in the fire, said: “It will be ok. With your help around the country and here in the room, we’ll laugh again. We’re going to listen to music again and we will be ok.”

I’ve got 30 seconds

Some headlines from this morning:

✈️ Authorities have recovered two ‘black box’ flight recorders from the site of yesterday’s deadly crash near Washington DC. A Black Hawk helicopter and an American Airlines passenger jet plummeted into a river after colliding midair on approach to Reagan Airport. There were 64 people on the plane and three soldiers on board the helicopter. No survivors are expected. Investigators will now analyse the plane’s cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder to understand the moments leading up to the incident. Crews have been diving the icy waters of the Potomac River, as efforts continue to recover all 67 bodies. Several figure skaters and their families as well as two Chinese nationals are believed to be among the dead.

⚖️ Tulsi Gabbard and Kash Patel faced Senate confirmation hearings on Thursday, along with Robert Kennedy Jr., who was on his second day of questioning. Gabbard, nominated for head of the National Intelligence agencies, defended past support for Russia, Syria’s fallen regime, and Edward Snowden. Patel, nominated to head the FBI, moderated his past criticism of the agency and distanced himself from support for violent actors during the January 6 riots. Kennedy faced further questioning on his past anti-vax comments, with Senators trying to clarify his views on vaccine efficacy and safety amid emotional exchanges from some Senators personally affected by the issue. The Senate will vote on all three appointments next week.

💵 President Trump announced his 25% tariffs on Mexican and Canadian goods will be implemented on Saturday. Mexico and Canada, longstanding top US trade partners, have not yet been informed of the full scope of the tariffs. In announcing the measures, Trump said the two countries have shortchanged the US, and attributed blame for the flow of fentanyl into the country. It remains unclear whether Mexican and Canadian oil will be included in the tariffs, though critics warn that such a move could further raise already high oil prices.

🇲🇽 Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has urged Google to reconsider its decision to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America for American users of Google Maps. The change aligns with an executive order made by President Trump last week which renamed the body of water shared by Cuba, Mexico and the US. In a letter to Google, the Mexican President argued international law only gives President Trump jurisdiction over waters within a twelve nautical mile of US borders. Google is yet to respond to the Mexican President’s request.

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Ahmed Al-Sharaa has been named President of Syria, as the country transitions to a new government following the overthrow of President al-Assad and the Ba'ath Party. Multiple changes have been announced following the appointment of the transitional President - here’s some context, and what to expect next.

What’s happened?

On December 8, a coalition of opposition groups overthrew the 58-year Syrian dictatorship and took control of the country's capital in a rapid assault, causing the dictator of 25 years, Bashar al-Assad, to flee the country with his family.

On Thursday, the transitional government announced the Ba'ath Party, which ruled Syria for 58 years, has been disbanded. Rebel groups that formed into the coalition to help toppled the government will also be absorbed into state institutions.

The new transitional government also announced the constitution of Syria, established in 2012 during a brutal 14-year civil war, will be thrown out.

Who’s the new President?

Ahmed Al-Sharaa was the leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the rebel group that led the coalition to take over Damascus in December. Since then, he has been the de-facto leader of Syria. HTS, dissolved by the transitional government, is still designated a terrorist group by the US and is known for its association with Al-Qaeda, responsible for 9/11.

The Ba’ath Party

The Ba’ath Party was established in 1948, and a branch of the party took control of Syria in 1963 via military coup. The party came under the singular control of Bashar al-Assad's father in 1970.

Until the end of 2024, the al-Assad family ruled Syria with an iron fist, infamously using chemical weapons on their own citizens between 2013 and 2017.

What happens next?

Al-Sharaa has pledged to guide the political transition but cautioned that democratic elections may not occur for up to four years.

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President Trump has announced plans to expand the offshore detention base, Guantánamo Bay, to hold an extra 30,000 people.

The bay, based in south-eastern Cuba, is home to an offshore detention facility used by the U.S. to hold suspected terrorists post-9/11.

Trump has proposed using a separate facility in Guantánamo to detain those who he described as “high-priority criminal aliens”.

Refugee advocates have criticised the measure as “nothing short of disastrous”.

Guantanamo Bay

Guantánamo Bay was originally a U.S. naval station based in southern Cuba.

In 2002, after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, it was turned into an offshore detention facility for suspected war criminals and perpetrators of terrorism, overseen by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

Around 800 people have been detained in Guantánamo Bay since then.

Roughly 30 people remain imprisoned there.

Torture

Human rights groups have repeatedly accused the CIA of using Guantánamo Bay as a site to torture and abuse prisoners.

A 2014 Senate report revealed evidence the CIA tortured people suspected of involvement in the 9/11 attacks. The CIA branded some of these strategies as “enhanced interrogation techniques”.

This included ‘waterboarding’, a form of torture when a person has water poured into their nose and mouth, simulating drowning.

Trump’s plan

Earlier this week, Congress passed a law allowing for non-US citizens to be held in immigration detention for “burglary, theft, larceny, or shoplifting”.

After the law was passed, Trump held a press conference where he spruiked his government’s efforts to curb migration.

He then announced he would order defence and immigration officials to open up the “30,000 beds” in Guantánamo “to detain the worst criminal illegal aliens”. Under U.S. law, an ‘alien’ is anyone in the country who isn’t a citizen.

Trump signed an executive order to provide “additional detention space for high-priority criminal aliens unlawfully present in the United States” at the Guantánamo migration detention facility.

An executive order is a presidential directive for government officials to act upon.

Tom Homan, Trump’s border ‘tsar’ (senior adviser), told reporters the migrant centre at Guantánamo has “been there for there for decades” and authorities are now working to “expand upon the existing migrant centre”.

Reaction

Deepa Alagesan, a senior lawyer at the International Refugee Assistance Project, said expanding the Guantánamo migrant facility would be “nothing short of disastrous.”

She described the facility as an “offshore black box” and said it would deprive detainees of the “basic standards of care”.

Cuba’s President, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, voiced his criticism on social media, calling Trump’s plans an “act of brutality”.