Washington, May 15 (RHC) – U.S. President Barack Obama met at the White House with his Uruguayan counterpart, Jose Mujica, earlier thi week. During the meeting, the two heads of state spoke about the situation of prisoners at the Guantanamo Naval Base and on the anti-tobacco policy boosted in the South American nation.

In their first official meeting, which lasted about an hour, Obama and Mujica didn’t say “a single word” about the recent legalization of marijuana in Uruguay, but did talk about the planned transfer to that country of up to six detainees from the prison at Guantanamo, as explained by the Uruguayan head of state.

During a news conference in Washington, Mujica said: “Obama told me he was committed to close that prison (Guantanamo) before the end of his term in office,” and he ruled out that Obama demanded any condition to close the agreement that will allow for the transfer of the prisoners to Uruguay.

The Uruguayan president revealed that during the meeting he mentioned the situation of three Cuban anti-terrorist fighters still imprisoned in U.S. jails. He said that “a lot of work will have to be done. I think that this administration has the best chance to improve relations with Cuba. But this is all I can say.”

At the beginning of the meeting, Obama said that Mujica “enjoys extraordinary credibility in matters of democracy and human rights, given his strong values and his personal history, and he’s a leader in these issues in the entire hemisphere.”