Guantanamo Bay question
 

Isn't that in Cuba? Isn't Cuba a Sovereign country? a communist one?

How can the US have a base there? How about a little history lesson guys?

We had a base there long before Castro committed his coup.....we have a lease on the property, and we were not willing to hand it over....

Don't have the dates however.....

Its very Simular to Hong Kong issue with the British control that was handed over a few years back.....

The United States occupied Cuba after winning the Spanish American War in 1898, and kept it as a colony until 1903. When we granted them independence in 1903, one of the stipulations was that we got Guantanomo. It not only gives us defacto control of Cuba militarially, what it was originally for was to give us a choke point to prevent foriegn navies from passing thru The Florida Strait and attacking the entire Gulf Coast. Legally, as a military base it is under direct juristiction of the President, making it a handy little spot to put people one wishes to be beyond the reach of the domestic courts.

http://www.nsgtmo.navy.mil/gazette/History_98-64/hischp3.htm

Very cool stuff here.

Rumor had it that Castro has all the rent $$$$$ in an account that has never been touched. He claims he doesn't want any US $$$$$$.

It sure hasn't been spent on any social or econmic programs but is more likely lining his own bank account.

muchas gracias KirkV, i knew you were good for something.

All the women in life say that, usually after the lawn is mowed.

Two words: Lawn Service. :D

Two words:

Pot belly

lol :hair:

I am guilty of hijacking this thread. I am sorry JenTay.

two words -- "no problem"

exams are over. no worries for me till next year.

It is as KV says, but I don't think it is open-ended. We pay Cuba some sort of rent that was negotiated under his predecessor (I think) and that also granted the USA a considerable extension on the lease. I don't know when it ends but that shouldn't be hard to find. Castro has a perennial complaint against the arrangement, but has never conducted a full-court press on the issue. I suspect because it is useful internal propaganda and he gets hard currency for rent, though I don't know how much--another worthy internet search.

The harbor is a good one. It's deep enough and wide enough for a few moderately sized ocean vessels to occupy simultaneously. When the USA finally turns the port over to Cuba, they will get a fine little facility. Sort of like the Philipines got with Clarke Field and Subic Bay.

...as I've heard it, we send the rent checks and Cuba accepts them, but they haven't been cashed since '59. Today it's America's version of Devil's Island, a place where political undesirables are 'disappeared' without oversight or accountability--a real beacon of freedom and justice.

"as I've heard it...". But is it true?

Googling returned a number of references to uncashed checks, so I guess a bunch of other idiots on the web have heard about it as well. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guantanamo_Bay

The rent is $2,000 in gold, a pittance in 1903 as much as it is today. We stole the place at gunpoint. To accept the money would be a disgrace for the Cubans, they get zero hard currency.

Cuba constantly *****es to the UN about it. I can't see any circumstance we would ever give it back. Cuba is a military Achilles heel for America, its strategic value makes it impossible to give up.