MIAMI — Out of work and willing to relocate? McDonald’s is
advertising for an assistant manager for its sole franchise in Cuba — serving
up burgers and fries that sometimes feed detainees at the prison camps at
Guantanamo Bay.
The help wanted ad popped up recently at the McVirginia.com
careers Web site featuring the Golden Arches, a headline “Find a Career
(at) McDonald’s” and this enticement: “Enjoy the perks.”
It didn’t specify salary but said, “Candidates must
have restaurant management experience, possess a valid United States passport
and be willing to relocate to Cuba.”
Other incentives include half your rent paid and,
potentially, tax-free status for year-round residents.
Apparently no special security clearances are necessary for
the job that requires you to both live and work on the 45-square-mile base of
some 6,000 residents. Customers include sailors and their families, at last
count 215 war-on-terror captives and their guards, as well as hundreds of
Jamaican and Filipino guest workers.
“This restaurant has been there since 1986 and is
independently owned and operated by a McDonald’s franchisee,” McDonald’s
USA spokeswoman Danya Proud said by e-mail from Oak Brook, Ill.
Frozen fries and burgers arrive by barge from Jacksonville,
Fla. Early on, prison camp commanders said they allowed interrogators to bring
Big Macs and fries as incentives for cooperation — a kinder, gentler concept
than the screeching heavy metal music that was blasted at times to soften up
suspected hardened al-Qaida fighters.
Now, with the goal to empty the place, captives cleared by
the courts and segregated in a special compound called Camp Iguana can get
takeout orders, brought by guards.
In one noteworthy omission, the ad does not mention
Guantanamo by name.
“The job listing states this restaurant is located on
the United States Naval base in Cuba, which is where this restaurant is
located,” Proud said.
How many had applied so far?
The spokeswoman would not say.
Via McClatchy-Tribune News Service.
