U.S. Catholic activists to march on Guantanamo prison

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N06391074.htm

HAVANA, Dec 6 (Reuters) - A group of 25 American Catholic peace activists, defying a U.S. travel ban to Cuba, will set out on Wednesday from the Communist island on a 50-mile (80.5-km) trek to the U.S. Guantanamo Navel Base aiming to protest conditions for terrorism suspects.

The priests, nuns and academics belonging to "Witness Against Torture" apparently arrived in Cuba as tourists from a third country, breaking U.S. restrictions on travel to the Caribbean island.

The group plans to leave from eastern Santiago de Cuba and arrive at the base on Saturday, International Human Rights Day, and demand to see prisoners on a hunger strike.

The Cuban military rarely if ever allows any civilians near the enclave it claims as its own and which has been held by the United States for over a century. Cuba has mined its side of the enclave.