History

Many people have asked me…. how do we have a base on Cuba when we don’t even have a diplomatic relationship with them?  Good question.  Guantanamo Bay is the oldest U.S. base outside the continental U.S.  It was established by treaty in 1903.  IN 1934 when the U.S. and Cuba still had a good diplomatic relationship, the treaty was re-negotiated giving the U.S. a perpetual lease on the property that can only be broken by a mutual agreement between the U.S. and Cuba.  In 1959 the government of Cuba was overthrown by Fidel Castro.  It became a communist state and continues under that political designation today.  The U.S. government maintains that because Castro’s government cashed one of the rent checks paid to it for the lease at Guantanamo Bay that the treaty is still in effect and legal.  To date Castro’s government has cashed only one of the rent checks paid by the U.S. since his takeover in 1959 and they claim it was by mistake.