[News] Why is the US Military Base in Guantánamo Illegal?

[Anti-Imperialist News]

resumen-english.org
<https://resumen-english.org/2025/03/why-is-the-us-military-base-in-guantanamo-illegal/>
Why is the US Military Base in Guantánamo Illegal?
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By Vero Garcia on March 1, 2025

<https://i0.wp.com/resumen-english.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/3-3-guantanamo.jpg?ssl=1>

For more than 120 years, the United States has illegally occupied the
largest bay in the southern part of the island. Guantánamo is home to a
detention center infamous for human rights violations committed there by
Washington.

Recently, the US government announced its decision to send deported
migrants to the illegal settlement as part of the new administration’s
bloody offensive against migrants. Cuba and the international community
have long denounced the return of the territory, and now it is also being
used for such dishonorable purposes.

The rejection of the announcement was immediate and categorical. The
statement from the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs
<https://razonesdecuba.cu/rechaza-cuba-decision-de-eeuu-de-encarcelar-migrantes-en-la-base-naval-de-guantanamo/>
classifies it as a “demonstration of the brutality with which that
government” acts “supposedly to correct problems created by the economic
and social conditions of that country, the government’s own management and
its foreign policy, including hostility towards countries of origin”.

But why is the forced appropriation of this space considered to be outside
international law? These are the reasons.

*An imposed lease*

The installation of the naval base came about following the signing of
the *Treaty
of 1903* between the then Cuban president Tomás Estrada Palma and the US
president Theodore Roosevelt. This agreement, the result of coercion
brought about by the *Platt Amendment*, ceded Cuban territory to the United
States, the use of which was supposedly intended for naval purposes and for
the storage of coal. However, the circumstances surrounding the signing of
this treaty are crucial, as they were carried out under the threat of
military intervention, which makes it a flawed agreement from the outset.

*The will of the Cuban people*

Furthermore, on January 1, 1959, after the triumph of the Revolution, Cuba
has repeatedly demanded the return of Guantánamo in international forums.
In this regard, Commander in Chief Fidel Castro stressed that
<http://www.comandanteenjefe.info/es/citas-sobre/Base%20Naval%20de%20Guant%C3%A1namo?page=1>

Guantánamo is of no use to the United States militarily today. They
maintain it as an act of force and arrogance, occupying a part of our
national territory, which today in the nuclear age has no strategic value.
The US has no right to be there, since they are there against our will; and
I believe that no country can have a military base on its territory against
the will of that country. The United States is there by force. What right
does the United States have to be in Guantánamo against the will of our
people? What right does it have to occupy a piece of our territory against
the will of our people?

This principle of territorial integrity is a pillar of the Constitution of
the Greater Antilles, based on domestic law.

In the same vein, the 1969 International Convention on the Law of Treaties
establishes in Article 52 that treaties obtained through coercion are null
and void. Thus, the lease of Guantánamo, given that it lacks a clear time
limit and perpetuates the occupation without Cuban approval, is in conflict
with international law. In addition, the fact that the Cuban government has
never accepted payment for this lease highlights the illegitimate nature of
the agreement.

*Improper use of the territory*

Although the original agreement specified that the base would be used
exclusively as a naval station and coaling station, the United States has
expanded its use for military and detention purposes. The base has been
internationally condemned for housing a detention center where human rights
have been flagrantly violated, keeping people without trial for years under
inhumane conditions.

In addition, on January 29, Trump announced his intention to send 30,000 of
the “worst criminals” to the eastern part of the island. More than 60
percent of its own population is against such an infamous measure. “The
history of abuses at Guantanamo Bay speaks for itself,” Stacy Suh, program
director of the Detention Watch Network, said in a statement, “and it will
undoubtedly endanger people’s physical and mental health.”

This proposal by the US government is seen as an act of brutality and an
attempt to divert attention from the social and economic problems facing
the US. Thus, the base is not only a symbol of occupation, but also a point
of conflict in relations between the two countries and an example of the
US’s lack of respect for fundamental guarantees.

Universal opinion supports the position that the Guantánamo naval base is
illegal. Its existence represents an attack on Cuban sovereignty. Cuba’s
repeated demands for its return, together with its rejection of an
agreement that was never legitimate, highlight the need for a solution that
respects the will of the Cuban people and international treaties.

Source Razones de Cuba
<https://razonesdecuba.cu/por-que-es-ilegal-la-base-militar-de-ee-uu-en-guantanamo/>,
translation Resumen Latinoamericano – English
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