Guantanamo Bay

Guantanamo Bay A bay in south-western Cuba, in which US marines landed in 1898 during the Cuban War of Independence. With independence from Spain achieved, Cuba was forced to accept the Platt Amendment in 1901, which gave the US a permanent right to intervene in its home affairs. In 1903 the Cuban government had little alternative but to accept the presence of the US Navy in Guantanamo, and the two sides agreed on a lease of the base. In 1934 the Platt Amendment was repealed, but in return the status of Guantanamo Bay was confirmed until both treaty signatories agreed on a change of status. Since Castro was never prepared to risk his revolution by giving the US a pretext for open warfare, the US presence in Guantanamo persisted even after Castro's revolution in 1959. Since then, Guantanamo Bay became a colony of about 6,000 people, sustained by heavy subsidies from the US government, which used the area as a front-line training ground for its marines. In 2002 it became important as a place of imprisonment for al-Qaeda terrorists. Since the bay was not formally part of the USA, this gave the administration of George W. Bush full jurisdiction over their fate, without protection by the Bill of Rights enforced by the US Supreme Court.