Autumn 2003
In the last two years the US naval base at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba has regularly been seen in the news due to the imprisonment of hundreds of Muslims held there by the United States without trial.
It is well documented that the prisoners are held in terrible conditions and they have included minors. Cuba has surprisingly come under fire from some quarters for allowing this behaviour on their land. It is important to explain that Cuba has no power over this area of their own soil, as for the last 100 years it has been occupied by the United States and is separated from the rest of Cuba by one of the world’s most intense minefields.
The area known as Guantanamo Bay covers nearly 118 square kilometres of eastern Cuba, it contains 2 airfields and is home to around 3,000 permanently stationed US military personnel, whilst a further floating population of thousands arrives and departs by air and sea each month.
The annual rent for the leasing of this land is 2,000 gold coins, equal to $4,085, so around one cent per square metre of land! However, since 1959 and the triumph of the Revolution, no cheque has ever been cashed. Since March of that year Cuba has demanded that the US return the base and has regularly had resolutions passed at the Non-Aligned Movement calling for the base to be returned.
The history of Guantanamo Bay is a perfect example of US policy towards Cuba since the end of the 19th century. In 1898, just as the Cuban patriots’ independence army was about to achieve victory after 30 years of armed struggle against the Spanish Crown, the United States declared war on Spain after their warship, The Maine, was allegedly torpedoed by the Spanish. Later that year, rule of Cuba was transferred from Madrid to Washington at the Treaty of Paris, where no Cubans were present, after US President McKinley had stated “it wouldn’t be wise to recognise the independence of the Cuban Republic”.
More:
https://cuba-solidarity.org.uk/cubasi/article/27/how-the-us-stole-guantanamo-bay
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