Why is Guantanamo Bay in Cuba???

Question

I'm not too informed about US and Cuba relations, but as far as I know, Cuba doesn't like the US and vice-versa?? Didn't the US try to assasinate Castro many times? So how come this Guantanamo Bay is in Cuba? How come Cuba are allowing them to hold such an obviously inhumane prison there? And why do the US want it there and not in the USA?

Answer 1

the us have leased this bit of cuba for many years... make no mistake, if Cuba could find some way to get the US out, they would love to.
It's a bit like the situation with Hong Kong and the Chinese... The UK owner it untill 1999 when the lease ran out.

The US use this bit of cuba as a naval base and marine camp... the gitmo camp is just convenient to keep their dirty laundry out of sight of the 'freedom luvin'' US citizens


{edit to Philip McCrevice}
1) You're right. American don't like the government of Cuba, and the government of Cuba indoctrinates their people to hate America. AND THE US INDOCRINATES ITS PEOPLE TO HATE CUBA

2) There is debate on whether the CIA helped in the Bay of Pigs invasion to overthrow Castro. THERE IS NO DEBATE ABOUT *IF* THEY DID, JUST DEBATE ON *HOW* THEY DID

3) We defeated the Spanish in the Spanish American War and got Cuba and the Philippines. We gave them both to their own people but kept Guantanamo Bay in perpetuity.

4) If you think the prison there is inhumane, you are very misinformed. TRUE. ALL THE SERIOUS TORTURE IS DONE BY RENDITION - THE US LIKE TO USE TORTURE, BUT DONT LIKE TO GET THEIR HANDS DIRTY SO THEY SEND THEIR PRISONERS TO OTHER COUNTRIES, AND GITMO IS A MAJOR DESTINATION FOR MANY RENDITION FLIGHTS

5) why have these nut jobs in the USA when we can keep them in Cuba? A CONVICTED SERIAL CHILD RAPIST AND MURDERER IN A US PRISON HAS MORE FREEDOM AND RIGHTS THAN SOMEONE WHO HAS BEEN IN GITMO FOR 6 YEARS WITHOUT TRIAL OR EVEN CHARGE AGAINST THEM.

GOD BLESS AMERICA THE LAND OF THE FREE

Answer 2

Guantanamo bay has always been in Cuba. That's a common feature on bays all around the world, they are where they are. You can't move them.

Maybe you're asking why the USA has a military base IN Guantanamo bay.
The simple answer is that the USA invaded Cuba and kept a beach head there just in case.
Don't get confused. Germany invaded Europe because it was a bad country with bad intentions. The USSR invaded Afghanistan because it was a very very bad country with very very bad intentions. Iraq invaded Kuwait because its ruler (democratically elected president, but you know that those iraquis can't make decision of their own) was an evil tyrannic dictator.
The USA invaded Cuba to protect freedom and liberty and save the world and reduce global warning and protect democracies and...

To help you avoid mistakes in the future use this simple rule, if A invades B and A is not USA, A is bad. If A is USA, everything is fine, it's all being done for your good.

Answer 3

Guantánamo Bay (Spanish: Bahía de Guantánamo) is a bay located in Guantánamo Province at the south-eastern end of Cuba (19°54′N, 75°9′W). It is the largest harbor on the south side of the island and is surrounded by steep hills creating an enclave cut off from its immediate hinterland.

The United States assumed territorial control over Guantánamo Bay under the 1903 Cuban-American Treaty, which granted the United States a perpetual lease of the area without the Cuban Government reacting. The current Cuban government considers the U.S. presence in Guantánamo illegal, arguing that the Cuban-American Treaty violates Article 52 of the 1969 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, which declares a treaty void if its conclusion has been procured by the threat or use of force in violation of international law.[1] However, Article 4 of the same document states that Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties shall not be retroactively applied to any treaties made before itself.[2]

The southern portion of the bay is surrounded by the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, established in 1898. For the past several years the base has hosted a detainment camp for suspected militant combatants from both Afghanistan and Iraq, or from previously secret prisons in Europe that were revealed in 2006.

Answer 4

1) You're right. American don't like the government of Cuba, and the government of Cuba indoctrinates their people to hate America.

2) There is debate on whether the CIA helped in the Bay of Pigs invasion to overthrow Castro.

3) We defeated the Spanish in the Spanish American War and got Cuba and the Philippines. We gave them both to their own people but kept Guantanamo Bay in perpetuity.

4) If you think the prison there is inhumane, you are very misinformed.

5) why have these nut jobs in the USA when we can keep them in Cuba?

Answer 5

The Spanish American liberated the Spanish colony of Cuba.And the Philippines, Porto Rico and Guam. In gratitude and the assumption that US-Cuban relations would always be good the land at Guantanamo Bay was given to the US government permanently.

Answer 6

CLOSE GUANTANAMO! Since when did the US become a nation that promotes torture? Why are we insisting that othe countries become nations of law, when we ourselves hold people without trial, without justice? How do we know that the people held there are terrorists when they've never been tried? It's been five years - if there was some actual evidence, why hasn't it been brought forth? Did you know that most of them were SOLD to the Americans for a few bucks by village chiefs with a grudge against their family? There was no due process, there were no independent witnesses. This is a crime against humanity. Bush and Cheney should go to The Hague in chains!

Answer 7

The basic fact is that it's geographically situated in Cuba. The base pre-dates Castro and was leased to the U.S.A legally. They can stay until the lease expires.

Answer 8

The short answer is that because if the detainees were held on US soil, then they would have certain rights extended to them. Gitmo is technicly Cuban soil which is leased to the US military. This lease dates from the end of the Spanish-American War.

Answer 9

GTMO out dates Communist Cuba.

It is Leased from the old Cuban Government indefinitely and we send checks to Cuba, Cuba does not cash them but We will not leave as long as we like it.

Answer 10

It predates Castro and has more to do with the Platt Amendment and the Spanish-American war.