The Cuban government has offered to provide medical treatment to the 20 prisoners from Afghanistan now being housed at the US military base in Guantanamo Basy, Cuba.
The prisoners shackled and surrounded by US Marines arrived at Guantanamo Bay Naval Station yesterday after an 8,000-mile flight from Afghanistan. The prisoners are considered the most dangerous of the al-Qaida and Taliban captives.
The Cuban government said, "We are willing to cooperate with the medical services required as well as with sanitation programs in the surrounding areas under our control to keep them clean of vectors and pests.
"Likewise, we are willing to cooperate in any other useful, constructive and human way that may arise."
Pentagon spokesman Lt. Cmdr Jeff Davis declined to comment on the statement.
Cuba said it offered similar medical help in 1999 when the United States was considering using the base to house refugees from the war in Kosovo.
Cuba also said it did not believe housing the prisoners at the base represented a national security risk since more US troops were arriving there.
"Cuba will make every effort to preserve the atmosphere of detente and mutual respect that has prevailed in that area in the past few years," the government said, even though it long has argued that the base should be closed.
And while Washington did not consult with Havana about using the base for the prisoners, "we shall not set any obstacles to the development of the operation," the government said.
Havana's statement also comes amid a flood of influential American visitors to the island including congressmen and the first direct commercial sales of American food to the communist country in nearly 40 years. The latest shipments of rice, wheat and soy should arrive this weekend.
Cuba also is trying to get itself removed from the State Department's terrorism watch list, saying it has been a constant target of violent anti-Castro groups working from the United States.