Ex-detainee now runs pastry stand

Two women look at pastries on display at the newly opened stand owned by Syrian Ahmed Ahjam at the Mercado Agricola in Montevideo, Uruguay, Monday, Aug. 13, 2018. Ahjam is one of six former detainees accepted by Uruguay in 2014 after U.S. authorities decided they weren’t threats but couldn’t be sent to their homelands. Ahjam and the others have struggled to adapt to the South American country. But the former jeweler from Syria says he’s learned to make sweets with recipes from his sisters and he’s been earning money selling them at fairs and private events. (AP Photo/Matilde Campodonico)
Two women look at pastries on display at the newly opened stand owned by Syrian Ahmed Ahjam at the Mercado Agricola in Montevideo, Uruguay, Monday, Aug. 13, 2018. Ahjam is one of six former detainees accepted by Uruguay in 2014 after U.S. authorities decided they weren’t threats but couldn’t be sent to their homelands. Ahjam and the others have struggled to adapt to the South American country. But the former jeweler from Syria says he’s learned to make sweets with recipes from his sisters and he’s been earning money selling them at fairs and private events. (AP Photo/Matilde Campodonico)

MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay — A bit of sweetness has entered the life of at least one of the men formerly held at the Guantanamo Bay prison camp.

Ahmed Ahjam opened a small stall selling Arabic pastries Monday at a public market in the Uruguayan capital, passing out free samples of cellophane-wrapped ma’amul to supporters, local officials and potential customers.

Ahjam is one of six former detainees accepted by Uruguay in 2014 after U.S. authorities decided they posed no

threat but couldn’t be sent to their homelands.

Ahjam spent a dozen years imprisoned at Guantanamo and, like the other five detainees in Uruguay, he has struggled to adapt to the South American country. But the former jeweler from Syria learned to make sweets such as baklava with recipes from his sisters and has been earning money selling them at fairs and private events.

A city development agency helped him open the stall at the Mercado Agricola, a historic covered market with nearly 100 shops.

“Many thanks to all the Uruguayans who are helping me. I’m going to work hard to fulfill this dream,” he said as he cut the ribbon on the stand. Montevideo Mayor Daniel Martinez and officials who have aided the former detainees attended.

Ahjam is the only one of the six — four Syrians, a Palestinian and a Tunisian — who has managed to find a regular job in the country of 3.2 million people.

The government has been giving the men a stipend of about $420 a month and covering their rent, as well as offering job and language training. But the aid is due to run out at the end of this year.

One of the six, Abu Wa’el Dhiab, left Uruguay in late June and went to Turkey, according to Christian Mirza, the government’s liaison with the former detainees. He said he wasn’t sure where Dhiab was now.

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