Whither Guantánamo
When Jonathan Hansen landed in Cuba in 2005, he wanted to see the country the way Columbus had first viewed it in 1494, via ship. Slowly cruising into port on a Navy vessel, Hansen’s dream was fully realized, and the scholar was awestruck by the beauty, and the baseness, of Guantánamo Bay. “It’s surreal,” said Hansen, a lecturer on social studies. “In an unusually rainy October, this desert environment was in full bloom, full of birds and wildlife, fish and shells … truly a natural wonder. The bay itself sits in a bigger basin and gives the impression of almost being infinite. The bay is a natural anchorage, vast and deep, with a succession of fingerlike promontories lining the southeast harbor, the heart of the current naval base.” A little more inland, there are neighborhoods, shopping centers, golf courses, ball fields, and outdoor cinemas. “It felt weird,” he said. “I came down...