THE COGNITIVE DISSONANCE begins from above. The stunning aquiline waters and jagged Cuban coastline of Guantánamo Bay come into view, and our plane makes a dramatic arc before landing on the US naval base that Amnesty International dubbed “the gulag of our times.”

It’s been eight years since my last visit, which was the first time Donald J. Trump was inaugurated as president and vowed to fill Guantánamo up with “bad dudes.” The prison population at that time was forty-one, and he didn’t end up sending anyone here during his first term. The Joe Biden administration reduced the number further, so that today just fifteen “War on Terror” captives remain (nine of the 780 detainees died while in custody, and others were repatriated or resettled in third countries). This dwindling population is being held in the world’s most expensive detention centre. Everything at this remote base, from water bottles to Humvees, must be shipped or flown in. According to 2019 estimates from the New York Times, the cost works out to about $36 million (US) per year per prisoner.

THERE HAVE BEEN small changes since my last visit in 2017. The four windmills that the navy spent $12 million (US) on to power about a quarter of the base stopped turning more than a year ago, and now there’s only one radome on the hill (those large golf balls for electronic surveillance) instead of two. No one can explain why the blades ceased or where the other white dome went.

The gift shop still does good business, although it no longer stocks snow globes and “Kisses from Guantánamo” magnets. There is, however, a new line of “The Real Housewives of Guantánamo Bay” T-shirts, stickers, keychains, and tote bags, and the dive shop has long-sleeved shirts that say “Fishing in Fidel’s Backyard.”

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