Swarms of gnats arrived in the wake of the hurricane season rains that lashed Camp Delta in Guantanamo Bay. The Caribbean sun dried the ground back to its normal parched brown, but the gnats have stayed.

For the 750 prisoners who have been transported in shackles and blindfolds from the battlefields of Afghanistan to the maze of chainlink fences at the US naval base on Cuba, the passing of the season is a rare chance to trace the passage of time.