Guantanamo Bay Naval Base

Guantanamo Bay Naval Base (Spanish: Base Naval de la Bahía de Guantánamo), officially known as Naval Station Guantanamo Bay or NSGB, (also called GTMO or Gitmo because of the common pronunciation of this word by the U.S. military) is a United States military base on the shore of Guantánamo Bay and is also the oldest overseas U.S. Naval Base. The base is located on 45 square miles (116 km2) of land and water at Guantánamo Bay, at the southeastern end of Cuba, which the U.S. leased for use as a coaling station and naval base in 1903. The lease was $2,000 in gold per year until 1934, when the payment was set to match the value in gold in dollars; in 1974, the yearly lease was set to $4,085.

Since the Cuban Revolution of 1959, the Cuban communist government has consistently protested against the U.S. presence on Cuban soil and called it "illegal" under international law, alleging that the base "was imposed on Cuba by force." Since 2002, the naval base has contained a military prison, for alleged unlawful combatants captured in Afghanistan, Iraq, and other places during the War on Terror. Cases of torture of prisoners by the U.S. military, and their denial of protection under the Geneva Conventions, have been criticized.

Timeline

• 30 April 1494 – Christopher Columbus, on his second voyage of exploration, sailed into Guantánamo Bay and remained overnight. He called the bay Puerto Grande.
• 18 July 1741 – Vice Admiral Edward Vernon, with 3,000 British troops under General Wentworth, arrived at Guantánamo Bay to begin an unsuccessful campaign against Santiago.
• December 1760 – Boats from the frigates HMS Trent and HMS Boreas cut-out the French privateers Vainquer and Mackau hiding in the bay. The French were also forced to burn another, the Guespe, to prevent her capture.
• 10 June 1898 – A battalion of Marines landed at Fisherman's Point and made camp on McCalla Hill, the first U.S. troops ashore in Cuba in the Spanish–American War.
• 23 February 1903 – President Theodore Roosevelt signed original lease agreement with Cuba for a naval base at Guantánamo Bay. See Platt Amendment.
• 3 March 1903 – U.S. Congress appropriated $100,000 for "necessary expenditures incident to the occupation and utilization of the naval station at Guantánamo, Cuba ..."
• 10 December 1903 – Cuba turned over the Naval Reservation to the United States.
• 27 April 1904 – An appropriation of $385,500 was made for an emergency repair installation at Guantánamo Bay, including a dry dock to be built on South Toro Cay.
• 1906 (exact date unknown) – Work on dry dock on South Toro Cay was discontinued.
• 29 September 1906 – Roosevelt sent U.S. troops to Cuba to crush a revolt, thus bringing about the second U.S. occupation of Cuba, which lasted until 1909.
• 1908 (Spring) – Station ship USS Monongahela burned.
• 10 March 1913 – LT John H. Towers (later Admiral and Chief of Bureau of Aeronautics) flew from Guantánamo Bay to Santiago in a Curtiss flying boat in 46 minutes.
• 10 December 1913 – The Naval Station was officially opened at its present location, the main activities having been moved from South Toro Cay.
• 1924 (Winter) – First concentration of Atlantic and Pacific Fleets in Caribbean.
• 7 August 1928 – Naval Station damaged by hurricane, whose center passed 50 miles to the south.
• 1938 (late in year) – Hepburn Board visited Station and made recommendations for expansion.
• 20 February 1939 – President Franklin D. Roosevelt visited Guantánamo Bay in USS Houston.
• 1 July 1939 – Station started receiving water from pumping station at Yateras River via new pipeline.
• 4 December 1940 – President Roosevelt visited Guantánamo Bay in USS Tuscaloosa.
• 12 July 1940 – Contract signed with Frederick Snare Corporation to begin a vast construction program for build-up of the Station.
• 1 April 1941 – Naval Operating Base, Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, established.
• 25 February 1948 – President Harry S. Truman visited Base.
• 18 June 1952 – Title of Naval Operating Base changed to Naval Base.
• 8 June 1993 – US detention of HIV-positive refugees at Guantánamo Bay declared unconstitutional.

In addition to two presidents, many other distinguished people have visited the Naval Base. At one time General John J. Pershing was a visitor on board USS Utah. Charles A. Lindbergh was a visitor during his goodwill flight around the Americas in the "Spirit of St. Louis". Before and during the World War II years, visitors included members of Congress, Cabinet officers, ambassadors, Harry Hopkins, Eleanor Roosevelt, and others.

Other important visitors the base have included:

• U.S. Ambassador Robert Butler (from Havana), 21–22 December 1950
• Admiral and Mrs. Forrest P. Sherman, 31 December 1950 – 1 January 1951
• Vice Admiral R. V. Symonds-Tayler, RN, 8–15 January 1951
• Carlos Hevia, former President of Cuba and Cuban Minister without portfolio (graduate of U. S. Naval Academy, class of 1920) 19 October 1951
• U.S. Ambassador and Mrs. Howard Travers (from Haiti), 4 December 1951 on two occasions subsequently
• Peruvian Minister of Marine Roque A. Saldias, 20–22 May 1952
• Cuban Minister of National Defense Nicolas Perez Hernandez 17 June 1952
• U.S. Ambassador and Mrs. Willard L. Beaulac (from Havana) 19–20 June 1952
• The Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral W. M. Fechteler, 18 December 1952.

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 came under British control during the War of Jenkins' Ear. Prior to British occupation, the bay was referred to as Walthenham Harbor. The British renamed the bay Cumberland Bay. The British retreated from the area after a failed attempt to march to Santiago de Cuba.

Guantanamo Bay during the 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. The 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 battle at Guantanamo 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 read

That to enable the United States to maintain the independence of Cuba, and to protect the people thereof, as well as for its own defense, the government of Cuba will sell or lease to the United States lands necessary for coaling or naval stations at certain specified points to be agreed upon with the President of the United States

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.

USS Monongahela (1862), an old warship which served as a storeship at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba was totally destroyed by fire on 17 March 1908. A 4-inch gun was salvaged from her wreck and put on display at the Naval Station. Since the gun was deformed by the heat from the fire, it was nicknamed "Old Droopy". The gun was on display on Deer Point until the command disposed of it, judging its appearance less than exemplary of naval gunnery. A similar gun, possibly also salvaged from the Monongahela, is on display near the Bay View Club on the Naval Station.[show]

•  Cuba
•  United States

CitationsTS 418; 6 Bevans 1113

Long name:[show]

Signed2 July 1903LocationHavanaEffective6 October 1903Signatories

•  Cuba
•  United States

The 1903 lease agreement was executed in two parts. The first, signed in February, consisted of the following provisions:[30]

1. Agreement – This is a lease between the U.S. and Cuba for properties for naval stations, in accord with Article VII of the Platt Amendment.
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, consisted of the following provisions:

1. Article 1 – Payment is $2000 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 checks since that time.

The 1903 Lease for Guantanamo has no fixed expiration date.

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.

1958–1999

Until the 1953–1959 revolution, 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 the tides of workers to and from the gate.

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 travelled 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 4.5 miles (7 km) northeast of the base. The U.S. government paid a fee for this; in 1964, it was about $14,000 a month for about 2,500,000 U.S. gallons (9,000 m3) per day. In 1964, the Cuban government stopped the flow. The base had about 14,000,000 U.S. gallons (50,000 m3) of water in storage, and strict water conservation was put into effect immediately. The U.S. first imported water from Jamaica by barge, then relocated a desalination plant from San Diego (Point Loma). When the Cuban government accused the United States of stealing water, base commander John D. Bulkeley ordered that the pipelines be cut and a section removed. A 38 in (970 mm) length of the 14 in (360 mm) diameter pipe and a 20 in (510 mm) length of the 10 in (250 mm) diameter pipe were lifted from the ground and the openings sealed.

21st century

The military facilities at Guantanamo Bay have over 8,500 U.S. sailors and Marines stationed there. It is the only military base the U.S. maintains in a communist country.

In 2005, the U.S. Navy completed a $12 million wind-power project at the base, erecting four 950-kilowatt, 275-foot-tall (76.2 meter) wind turbines, reducing the need for diesel fuel to power the existing diesel generators (the base's primary electricity generation). In 2006, the wind turbines reduced diesel fuel consumption by 650,000 gallons (2,460,518 liter) annually.

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 prohibited new recruitment since its revolution. They both retired at the end of 2012.

In January 2009, President Obama signed executive orders directing the CIA to shut what remains of its network of "secret" prisons and ordering the closing of the Guantánamo detention camp within a year. However, he postponed difficult decisions on the details for at least six months. On 7 March 2011, President Obama issued an executive order that permits ongoing indefinite detention of Guantánamo detainees. The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012 authorized indefinite detention of suspected terrorists, but enforcement of the relevant section was temporarily blocked by a federal court ruling in the case of Hedges v. Obama on 16 May 2012, a suit brought by a number of private citizens, including Chris Hedges, Daniel Ellsberg, Noam Chomsky, and Birgitta Jónsdóttir. After a series of decisions and appeals, the lawsuit was vacated because the plaintiffs lacked standing to file the suit. As of April 2018, the detention center was in operation.

At the United Nations Human Rights Council in 2013, Cuba's Foreign Minister demanded the U.S. return the base and the "usurped territory" which the Cuban government considers to be occupied since the U.S. invasion of Cuba during the Spanish–American War in 1898.