U.S. defense chief visits troops at Guantanamo Bay

WASHINGTON, Dec. 21 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis was reportedly visiting the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba on Thursday to offer holiday greetings to troops stationed there.

It was the first trip to the base by a sitting Pentagon chief in almost 16 years since Donald Rumsfeld visited Guantanamo in early 2002, weeks after the arrival of the first prisoners.

According to reports, Mattis, who arrived on Wednesday night, was meeting troops, but not touring the detention camp, a prison set up in 2002 as part of the U.S. war on terror.

Former President Barack Obama tried to close the facility, but thwarted by Congress. Forty-one prisoners remain in detention there.