By Jane Sutton
(Reuters) – A simulated wave of Caribbean migrants sailed to the Guantanamo naval base this week for a training drill designed to prepare U.S. troops and security agencies who might someday have to handle the real thing.
The exercise is held every two years to prepare for a potential mass migration brought on by political upheaval or natural disaster in the region.
More than 500 U.S. troops and government workers flew to the Guantanamo Bay U.S. Naval Base in eastern Cuba for the drill, which started on Saturday and runs through Friday.
"It's not related to any real-world event," said Colonel Jane Crichton, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Army South unit based in San Antonio, Texas, which is participating in the drill.
The drill is taking place on the sparsely populated Leeward side of the base, which is bisected by Guantanamo Bay. Most of the base facilities are on the Windward side, including the detention center that holds 166 prisoners captured in anti-terrorism operations.
The Guantanamo base housed more than 45,000 Cuban and Haitian refugees who were picked up at sea during the last mass migration in the Caribbean in the mid-1990s. It also served as a logistics hub for U.S. ships and flights ferrying aid to Haiti after the catastrophic earthquake in January 2010.
More: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/10/us-usa-guantanamo-migrants-idUSBRE9190CK20130210
