Guantanamo Bay Naval Base


Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, officially known as Naval Station Guantanamo Bay or NSGB, is a United States military base located on of land and water on the shore of Guantánamo Bay at the southeastern end of Cuba. It has been "leased" from Cuba to the U.S., without expiry, since 1903 as a coaling station and naval base. It is the oldest overseas American naval base. Since 1974, the U.S. has paid the Cuban government an annual sum equivalent to $4,085 in 1934 dollars to lease the bay. The lease was previously $2,000 per year until 1934, when it was set to match the value of gold in dollars.
Since taking power in 1959, the Cuban government has consistently protested against the U.S. presence on Cuban soil, arguing that the base was imposed on Cuba by force and is illegal under international law. The lease requires either bilateral consent or full U.S. military withdrawal in order to terminate lease. Since 2002, the naval base has maintained the Guantanamo Bay detention camp for alleged unlawful combatants captured in Afghanistan, Iraq, and other places during the war on terror. Together with El Helicoide in Venezuela, the detention camp is one of the largest existing centers for torture in the Western Hemisphere. Cases of alleged torture of prisoners by the U.S. military and their denial of protection under the Geneva Conventions have been criticized. The base has been a focal point for debates over civil liberties, notably influenced by the landmark 2008 Supreme Court decision in Boumediene v. Bush. This ruling affirmed the constitutional right of detainees to challenge their detention via habeas corpus, highlighting the ongoing tensions between national security and civil liberties.

Geography

The naval base occupies three main geographical sections: Leeward Point, Windward Point, and Guantánamo Bay. Guantánamo Bay physically divides the naval station into sections. The bay extends past the boundaries of the base into Cuba, where the bay is then referred to as Bahía de Guantánamo. Guantánamo Bay contains several cays, which are identified as Hospital Cay, Medico Cay, North Toro Cay, and South Toro Cay.
Leeward Point contains the airfield. Major geographical features on Leeward Point include Mohomilla Bay and the Guantánamo River. Three beaches exist at Leeward Point. Two are available for use by base residents, while the third, Hicacal Beach, is closed. Nearby is the US Naval Cemetery at Guantanamo Bay, also known as Cuzco Wells Cemetery. The cemetery holds over 350 burials, including that of Captain Henry Smith, who died as a result of injuries received during the sinking of his ship, the SS Delmundo, by the German submarine U-600 on 13 August 1942.
Windward Point contains most of the activities at the naval station. There are nine beaches available to base personnel. The highest point on the base is John Paul Jones Hill at. There are many coves and peninsulas along the bay shoreline providing ideal areas for mooring ships. According to Stephen Benz, Stephen Crane described the area as "craggy" and "cut with ravines." He also described the coastline as covered in ridges and "chalky cliffs".

History

Spanish colonial era

The area surrounding Guantanamo Bay was originally inhabited by the Taíno people. On 30 April 1494, Christopher Columbus, on his second voyage, arrived and spent the night. The place where Columbus landed is now known as Fisherman's Point. Columbus declared the bay Puerto Grande. The bay and surrounding areas briefly came under British control during the War of Jenkins' Ear. Prior to the outbreak of the conflict, the bay was referred to as Walthenham Harbor by British cartographers. The British expeditionary force renamed the bay Cumberland Bay. They eventually retreated from the area after an attempt to march to Santiago de Cuba was repulsed by Spanish troops.

Spanish–American War

During the Spanish–American War, the U.S. fleet attacking Santiago secured Guantánamo's harbor for protection during the hurricane season of 1898. Marines landed at Guantanamo Bay with naval support, and American and Cuban forces routed the defending Spanish troops. There is a monument on McCalla Hill to one Navy officer and five Marines who died in the Battle of Guantánamo Bay.
The war ended with the Treaty of Paris of 1898, in which Spain formally relinquished control of Cuba. Although the war was over, the United States maintained a strong military presence on the island. In 1901 the United States government passed the Platt Amendment as part of an Army Appropriations Bill. Section VII of this amendment reads:
After initial resistance by the Cuban Constitutional Convention, the Platt Amendment was incorporated into the Constitution of the Republic of Cuba in 1901. The constitution took effect in 1902, and land for a naval base at Guantanamo Bay was granted to the United States the following year.

Permanent lease

The 1903 lease agreement, which has no fixed expiration date, was executed in two parts. The first, signed in February, consists of the following provisions:
  1. Agreement – The United States of America and the Republic of Cuba, desiring to maintain the Independence of Cuba, will enter into a lease for lands necessary for US Naval Stations.
  2. Article 1 – Describes the boundaries of the areas being leased, Guantanamo Bay and Bahia Honda.
  3. Article 2 – The U.S. may occupy, use, and modify the properties to fit the needs of a coaling and naval station, only. Vessels in the Cuban trade shall have free passage.
  4. Article 3 – Cuba retains ultimate sovereignty, but during the occupation, the U.S. exercises sole jurisdiction over the areas described in Article 1. Under conditions to be agreed on, the U.S. has the right to acquire, by purchase or eminent domain, any land included therein.
The second part, signed five months later in July 1903, consists of the following provisions:
  1. Article 1 – Payment is $2,000 gold coin, annually. All private lands within the boundaries shall be acquired by Cuba. The U.S. will advance rental payments to Cuba to facilitate those purchases.
  2. Article 2 – The U.S. shall pay for a survey of the sites and mark the boundaries with fences.
  3. Article 3 – There will be no commercial or other enterprise within the leased areas.
  4. Article 4 – Mutual extradition.
  5. Article 5 – Not ports of entry.
  6. Article 6 – Ships shall be subject to Cuban port police. The U.S. will not obstruct entry or departure into the bay.
  7. Article 7 – This proposal is open for seven months.
SIGNED Theodore Roosevelt and Jose M Garcia Montes.
In 1934, the United States unilaterally changed the payment from gold coin to U.S. dollars per the Gold Reserve Act. The lease amount was set at US$3,386.25, based on the price of gold at the time. In 1973, the U.S. adjusted the lease amount to $3,676.50, and in 1974 to $4,085, based on further increases to the price of gold in USD. Payments have been sent annually, but only one lease payment has been accepted since the Cuban Revolution, and Fidel Castro claimed that this check was deposited due to confusion in 1959. The Cuban government has not deposited any other lease check since that time.

Before and during World War II

The naval base became a prime area for winter training for the Atlantic fleet. Due to the large increase in population during the training months, the base quickly established facilities to support everyday functions. Construction of the Guantanamo Bay fleet range system began as early as 1905, with four primary ranges. Due to the size of the base, sections were shut down in order for range operations to proceed. Ironically, the concrete range system's size and cost led to its downfall. Evidence suggests the fleet ranges were used throughout World War I and the beginning of World War II.
During World War II, the base was set up to use a nondescript number for postal operations. The base used the Fleet Post Office, Atlantic, in New York City, with the address: 115 FPO NY. The base was also an important intermediate distribution point for merchant shipping convoys from New York City and Key West, Florida, to the Panama Canal and the islands of Puerto Rico, Jamaica, and Trinidad and Tobago.

Cold War and beyond

From 1953 to 1959, thousands of Cubans commuted daily from outside the base to jobs within it. In mid-1958, vehicular traffic was stopped; workers were required to walk through the base's several gates. Public Works Center buses were pressed into service almost overnight to carry workers to and from the gate.
The "Cactus Curtain" is a term describing the line separating the naval base from Cuban-controlled territory, an allusion to Europe's Iron Curtain, the Bamboo Curtain in East Asia, and the similar Ice Curtain in the Bering Strait. After the Cuban Revolution, some Cubans sought refuge on the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base. In late 1961, Cuban troops planted an -long, -wide barrier of Opuntia cactus along the northeastern section of the fence surrounding the base, to prevent checkpoint evasion when moving between the base and Cuba proper.
The curtain forms part of a "no man's land" that encircles the base. This area contains perimeter patrols, outposts featuring sandbags and watchtowers, and has been complemented with barbed wire fences, mine fields, and cacti. Apart from the cacti, both U.S. and Cuban troops erected, maintained, and otherwise manned these defenses, primarily to prevent checkpoint evasion and possible invasion from the other side.
U.S. and Cuban troops placed some 55,000 anti-personnel and anti-tank land mines across the "no man's land" around the perimeter of the base, creating the second-largest minefield in the world, and the largest in the Western Hemisphere. Initially, the mines were laid down by US troops, who also posted signs stating that the landmines were "precautions" and should not be viewed as "aggressive". In response, Cuban troops also laid down their own mines, with both sides completing their minefields in 1961. Between 1961 and 1965, landmine explosions resulted in the deaths of at least 10 people, including as the result of engineering accidents and late-night partygoers. On 16 May 1996, U.S. President Bill Clinton ordered the demining of the American field. The mines have since been replaced with motion and sound sensors to detect intruders on the base. The Cuban government has not removed its corresponding minefield outside the perimeter.
During the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, the families of military personnel were evacuated from the base. Notified of the evacuation on 22 October, evacuees were told to pack one suitcase per family member, to bring evacuation and immunization cards, to tie pets in the yard, to leave the keys to the house on the dining table, and to wait in front of the house for buses. Dependents traveled to the airfield for flights to the United States, or to ports for passage aboard evacuation ships. After the crisis was resolved, family members were allowed to return to the base in December 1962.
From 1939, the base's water was supplied by pipelines that drew water from the Yateras River about northeast of the base, for which the U.S. government paid a fee. In 1964, the cost was about $14,000 per month for about per day. In 1964, the Cuban government stopped the flow. The base had about of water in storage, and strict water conservation measures were put into effect immediately. Initially, the U.S. imported water from Jamaica by barge, but then relocated a desalination plant from San Diego. When the Cuban government accused the United States of "stealing water", base commander John D. Bulkeley ordered the pipelines cut and a section removed. A length of the diameter pipe and a length of the diameter pipe were lifted from the ground and the openings sealed.
During the 1960s and 1970s, the base had problems with alcohol and racial tension. Harassment and strip searches also became a regular occurrence for Cuban workers on the base. By 2006, only two elderly Cubans, Luis Delarosa and Harry Henry, still crossed the base's North East Gate daily to work on the base, because the Cuban government has prohibited new recruitment since 1959. Both men retired at the end of 2012.
Several old guns from the USS Monongahela have been salvaged and placed around the base. The warship served as a storeship at Guantanamo until destroyed by fire on 17 March 1908. A gun was salvaged from its wreck and put on display. Since the gun was deformed by the heat from the fire, it was nicknamed "Ole Droopy". A similar gun, possibly also salvaged from the Monongahela, is on display near the Bay View Club.
The base’s territorial status has occasionally been compared to a Sovereign base, though it differs in that it is lease-based rather than retained sovereignty.
At the United Nations Human Rights Council in 2013, Cuba's Foreign Minister demanded the U.S. return the base to Cuba.