i dont understand how the u.s. has a naval base in cuba even though we had it before castro took over?

Answer 1

We pay Castro rent.

Answer 2

get your facts right. Spain lost control over Cuba in 1898 and was occupied by the US but because of the Teller agreement which had a clause that stated that the U.S. could not annex Cuba but only leave "control of the island to its people."
in 1902 Cuba was declared independent, though Guantanamo Bay was leased to the United States for a nominal sum as part of the Platt Amendment
Than in 1959 castro took control after the revolution and cut the ties with the USA and seized US property. The US in turn broke diplomatic relations and imposed a trade embargo between Cuba and US in 1961.

Answer 3

According to Wikipedia...

"Guantánamo Bay Naval Base at the southeastern end of Cuba(19°54′N 75°9′W / 19.9, -75.15Coordinates: 19°54′N 75°9′W / 19.9, -75.15) has been used by the United States Navy for more than a century, and is the oldest overseas U.S. Navy Base. The United States controls the land on both sides of the southern part of Guantánamo Bay (Bahía de Guantánamo in Spanish) under a lease set up in the wake of the 1898 Spanish-American War. The current Cuban government considers the U.S. presence in Guantánamo to be an illegal occupation of the area, and argues that the Cuban-American Treaty, which established the lease in 1903, now violates article 52 of the 1969 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties."

Go to their site for more information and additional references.

Answer 4

The United States controls the land on both sides of the southern part of Guantánamo Bay (Bahía de Guantánamo in Spanish) under a lease set up in the wake of the 1898 Spanish-American War. The current Cuban government considers the U.S. presence in Guantánamo to be an illegal occupation of the area, and argues that the Cuban-American Treaty, which established the lease in 1903, now violates article 52 of the 1969 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties.

Since coming to power in 1959, Cuban leader Fidel Castro has refused to cash all but the very first rent check in protest

Answer 5

Even though we lease the land and pay rent, in protest Castro doesnt cash the checks. We were very friendly with Cuba before Castro took over.

Answer 6

After the Bay or Pigs disaster, the US kept its base to keep an eye on Castro. During the Cuban Missile Crisis, when Russia was putting nuke ICBMs on the island, Gitmo was key to a first strike against the sites had Kennedy not gotten the Russians to back down.

Gitmo is a thorn in the side of Castro, but the land was given to the US as a permanent base before Castro, so we keep it.

Answer 7

We made an agreement many years ago with them to lease the land in perpetuity .

Answer 8

It was placed there as missle defense against russia in the cold war. Russia had missles there supposedly so we wanted to put missles there.

Answer 9

What like he is going to throw us off...

Answer 10

It is legally American soil.