U.S. activists demand closure of Guantanamo base

U.S. pacifists on Thursday urged U.S. President-elect Barack Obama to show respect for human rights and close the U.S. navy base of Guantanamo.

In a declaration issued at a forum in Havana for the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, four U.S. activists demanded an end of the U.S. "double moral" standards on human rights.

Cindy Sheehan, who is famous in the United States for her persistent protests against the Iraqi war, said what the U.S. marines are doing in the Guantanamo Bay are "abominable." The tortures there are comparable to crimes against humanity, she said.

Sheehan, together with former U.S. presidential candidate Cynthia Mckinney, producer Saul Landau and scholar Nelson Valdez urged Obama to "lay a bridge of peace and justice with dignity and respect for Africa, Latin America and Europe."

"Obama has the single opportunity to break with the past policies, including the dictatorship, the invasion, terror and defamation, torture and occupation," they said.

They also called for an end to U.S. economic embargo against Cuba.