CODEPINK Hosts Coast-to-coast Rallies to Demand Closure of Guantanamo Prison Camp


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

June 25, 2013


Contacts:

Alli McCracken, CODEPINK DC Coordinator, 860.575.5692, Alli@codepink.org

Nancy Mancias, CODEPINK San Francisco Coordinator, 415.342.6409 codepink.nancy@gmail.com

Amanda Carmargo, CODEPINK LA Coordinator, 805.509.0572 amanda.codepink@gmail.com


CODEPINK Hosts Coast-to-coast Rallies to Demand Closure of Guantanamo Prison Camp


What: On June 26, 2013, CODEPINK and other human rights organizations and activists — including several Americans on open-ended fasts in solidarity with hunger striking Guantanamo detainees — will stage dramatic protests on both sides of the country calling on the President to immediately close Guantanamo and repatriate the men cleared for release.


Where: San Francisco, Senator Dianne Feinstein's office: 1 Post St., San Francisco, CA (assemble at Market & Montgomery St.)

When: 12-1pm


Where: Los Angeles, Federal Building, 11000 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90024 and McClure Pedestrian Overpass at Pacific Palisades Park, Santa Monica, CA

When: 10am - 12pm West LA, 4:30 - 6:30pm Santa Monica


Where: Washington DC, in front of the White House

When: 12:00pm


CODEPINK and other human rights organizations and activists will stage dramatic protests calling on the President to immediately close Guantanamo and repatriate the men cleared for release. It has been over a month since Medea Benjamin, co-founder of CODEPINK, spoke out during President Obama's foreign policy speech at the National Defense University, urging him to fulfill his promise to close Guantanamo prison, but he has not taken any meaningful action.  


“As far back as 2008, President Obama pledged that he would close Guantanamo Bay Prison,” remarks CODEPINK co-founder Medea Benjamin. “Yet here we are in 2013 and he is still talking the talk, but failing to walk to the walk.” Benjamin and other CODEPINK members recently returned from a delegation to Yemen, where they met with families whose loved ones are in Guantanamo. “We saw how the wives, mothers and children of these men are suffering,” says retired Colonel Ann Wright, who was on the delegation. “The situation is critical. It's time for our President to stop blaming Congress and immediately transfer the Guantanamo prisoners who have already been cleared for release, and provide a fair trial to the rest of the men still being held. The hypocrisy of this blatant violation of American values is hurting our reputation throughout the world.”


##