Uruguay's president indicated Thursday he's open to taking some former terror suspects still held at Guantanamo, but the U.S. ambassador in the country cautioned that no agreement has been reached, according to Reuters.
"If the inmates of Guantanamo want to make their nests in Uruguay, they can do it," President Jose Mujica told Channel 10's "Subrayado" program, Reuters reported. But he said he told his negotiators that he "would not be their jailer."
Uruguay's weekly Busqueda magazine reported earlier in the day that Mujica had agreed to accept five of the prisoners at President Barack Obama's request, and that U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry personally called Mujica to thank him on Monday, according to Reuters.
The magazine said the deal includes a requirement that the former detainees remain inside Uruguay's borders for at least two years, Reuters reported.
However, U.S. Ambassador Julissa Reynoso denied that the deal is done, saying that "we're still talking," according to Reuters.
Reynoso specifically denied that the governments had agreed that five prisoners would go to Uruguay, Reuters reported.
The U.S. has resettled 43 Guantanamo detainees in 17 countries since Obama took office, and released 38 others to their homelands, according to Reuters. Last week, the State Department office working to close the prison said to expect significant progress with the remaining 154.
A statement from the U.S. Embassy in Montevideo on Thursday said "we are consulting with various countries in the region about closing the detention center. Given the leadership role that President Jose Mujica shows in the region, we have consulted with his government," Reuter reported.
Obama came into office pledging to close the prison for terrorism suspects on the U.S. base in Cuba but was thwarted by Congress, which imposed restrictions on transferring the prisoners overseas and a ban on moving any of the men held there to the United States, according to Reuters.
Congress finally eased the restrictions in December, and transfers and releases, which had come to a virtual halt, have resumed as part of the president's renewed efforts, Reuters reported.
