Guantanamo Bay

Guantanamo Bay is located in Guantánamo Province at the south-eastern end of Cuba ({{coor dm|19|54|N|75|9|W|}}). A United States Naval base at Guantanamo Bay hosts a detainment camp for prisoners of war collected from both Afghanistan and Iraq.

History

See also timeline of Guantanamo Bay

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U.S. Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, which covers 116 km² (approx. 45 mi²), is sometimes abbreviated as GTMO or "Gitmo". It was established in 1898, when the United States obtained control of Cuba from Spain at the end of the Spanish-American War, following the 1898 invasion of Guantanamo Bay. The U.S. government obtained a perpetual lease that began on February 23, 1903, from Tomás Estrada Palma, an American citizen, who became the first President of Cuba. The newly formed American protectorate incorporated the Platt Amendment in the Cuban Constitution. The Cuban-American Treaty held, among other things, that the United States, for the purposes of operating coaling and naval stations, has "complete jurisdiction and control" of the Guantanamo Bay, while the Republic of Cuba is recognized to retain ultimate sovereignty.

Related Topics:
1898 - Spain - Spanish-American War - 1898 invasion of Guantanamo Bay - Lease - February 23 - 1903 - Tomás Estrada Palma - Protectorate - Platt Amendment - Cuban-American Treaty

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In 1905, in part because of the Platt Amendment, there was an uprising to which the United States responded by occupying Cuba for three years. A 1934 treaty reaffirming the lease granted Cuba and her trading partners free access through the bay, modified the lease payment from $2,000 in U.S. gold coins per year, to the 1934 equivalent value of $4,085 in U.S. Treasury Dollars , and added a requirement that termination of the lease requires the consent of both governments, or the abandonment of the base property by the United States.

Related Topics:
1905 - Platt Amendment - 1934

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With over 9,500 U.S. troops, http://www7.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0504/index.html Guantanamo Bay is the only U.S. base in operation on Communist soil, as of 2005.

Related Topics:
Communist - As of 2005

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Since coming to power, Fidel Castro has only cashed one rent cheque, while steadfastly refusing to cash any others, because he views the lease as illegitimate. Although diplomatic relations do not exist between the two countries, the United States has agreed to return fugitives from Cuban law to Cuban authorities, and Cuba agreed to return fugitives from U.S. law, for offenses committed in Guantanamo Bay, to U.S. authorities.

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The U.S. control of this Cuban territory has never been popular with the Cuban government or the Cuban people. The Cuban government strongly denounces the treaty on grounds that article 52 of the 1969 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties declares a treaty void if its conclusion has been procured by the threat or use of force — in this case by the inclusion, in 1903, of the Platt Amendment in the Cuban Constitution. The United States warned the Cuban Constitutional Convention not to modify the Amendment, and was told U.S. troops would not leave Cuba until its terms had been adopted as a condition for the U.S. to grant independence, making the Geneva Conventions applicable to the 1903/1934 treaty upheld by that Amendment.

Related Topics:
1969 - Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties - 1903 - Platt Amendment - Cuban Constitutional Convention - Geneva Conventions - 1934

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The United States holds that by cashing the first check received in accordance with said treaty, Castro's government effectively ratified the lease, and cannot unilaterally change its mind after the fact on account of political tensions or ideological differences. It further argues that all claims regarding an original violation of sovereignty under the Platt Amendment, and questions of an illegal military occupation, became moot once the new and independent revolutionary government freely reaffirmed the base's legitimacy.

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The Cuban government cut off water to the base, causing the United States to first import water from Jamaica and then to build desalination plants. Today, the base is self-sufficient, producing its own water and electricity. Only two Cubans, both elderly, still cross the base's North East Gate daily to work on the base; the Cuban government prohibits new recruitment.

Related Topics:
Jamaica - Desalination

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