The Detainment and Quarantine of HIV+ Haitians at Guantanamo Bay: A Biosecurity Case Study

Abstract

This thesis investigates the relationship between Haitians, the HIV/AIDS epidemic, and the US government at the site of Guantanamo Bay. Through an exploration of this relationship, I utilize the concept of biosecurity to analyze the actions of the US government in response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic. I assert the need to evaluate the mechanisms and products of the government-sponsored biosecurity intervention at Guantanamo Bay within this framework. With a lens of xenophobia and racism, I highlight the differential treatment and human rights violations of Haitians with the US government’s perception of them as contagion-filled bodies. Utilizing archival sources, I outline the sequence of events that led to the Haitian refugee detainment at Guantanamo Bay and detail the implementation of quarantine and its consequences for the health of HIV+ Haitians. I connect US law and public health policy to analyze the ethics of the detainment and quarantine of Haitian refugees. I argue that the government-sponsored intervention at Guantanamo Bay served as a site for the implementation of biosecurity protocols in response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic. These procedures and their outcomes invoke future implications for the regulation of and response to emerging epidemics around the world that are essential to consider in the management of global health.