Guantanamo Bay’s Dark History
Why does Cuba’s government allow a US base on its territory?
Guantanamo’s story is quite complex and a source of much tension between Cuba and its neighbor to the north, the United States.
Guantanamo Bay’s Naval Base history started following the Spanish-American War of 1898. US forces drove Spanish forces out during that conflict, allowing Cuba to declare “independence.”
The war’s aftermath was Spain ceded Cuba to the United States and the USA establishing the United States Military Government in Havana in 1901.
In 1903, this same government rented an area of 117km2 (a little larger than Paris). The contract stipulated it could only be broken if the Americans abandoned the base or in case of an agreement between the two countries. Cuban civilian governments that replaced the military government kept the deal.
Until the Cuban revolution, this naval base and this contract did not pose any problems, but with Fidel Castro’s seizure of power in 1959, things got more complicated.
That same year, the government cashed the American administration’s check for the Guantanamo base rental. Since then, the United States has considered it a contract recognition by the new regime.
