Some 230 HIV-positive asylum-seekers and more than 40 of their dependents who are fleeing possible political persecution in Haiti are being kept at the US Naval Base at Guantanamo on the southeast coast of Cuba. All of the asylum-seekers have been accepted by US immigration authorities as having a plausible claim for refugee status. They are being excluded from the USA solely on the basis of their HIV status and have received no assurances that they will not be sent back to Haiti. The conditions in which they are held in Guantanamo have been criticized by medical experts and public health officials who are concerned about the dangers of concentrating a large number of people who are suffering from an infection which causes immuno-suppression.
