{{Short description|Bay in Guantánamo Province, Cuba}} {{About|the body of water|the U.S. Naval base|Guantanamo Bay Naval Base||Guantánamo (disambiguation)}} {{refimprove|date=February 2021}} {{Use mdy dates|date=February 2021}} {{Infobox body of water | name = Guantánamo Bay | native_name = {{native name|es|Bahía de Guantánamo}} | image = Guantanamo bay satellite image.jpg | caption = Guantánamo Bay from satellite <!-- Geographic location --> | type = [[Bay]] | islands = [[Island of Cuba]] <!-- Administrative location --> |location=[[Caribbean]] | countries = [[Cuba]]<br/>[[United States]] | cities = <!-- Water body --> | part_of = [[Caribbean Sea]] | inflow = | outflow = <!-- Dimensions --> | area = | volume = | length = | width = | shoreline = | average_depth = | elevation = <!-- Map --> | pushpin_map =Cuba |pushpin_image=Cuba physical map (no legend).svg |pushpin_map_caption = Location in Cuba |pushpin_mapsize = 276px | pushpin_label_position = left | coordinates= }} '''Guantánamo Bay''' ({{langx|es|Bahía de Guantánamo}}, {{IPA|es|baˈia ðe ɣwãnˈtanamo|}}) is a bay in [[Guantánamo Province]] at the southeastern end of [[Cuba]]. It is the largest [[harbor]] on the south side of the island and it is surrounded by steep hills which create an enclave that is cut off from its immediate [[hinterland]].
The [[United States]] assumed territorial control over the southern portion of Guantánamo Bay under the [[Guantanamo Bay Naval Base#Permanent lease|1903 Lease]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/dip_cuba002.asp |title=Avalon Project – Agreement Between the United States and Cuba for the Lease of Lands for Coaling and Naval stations; February 23, 1903 |publisher=Avalon.law.yale.edu |access-date=March 26, 2013}}</ref> The United States exercises jurisdiction and control over this territory as the home of [[Guantanamo Bay Naval Base]], while recognizing that Cuba retains ultimate [[sovereignty]].<ref>{{cite web |author1=Vaughne Miller |author2=Alison Pickard |author3=Ben Smith |title=Cuba and the United States - how close can they get? |url=https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/CBP-7282/CBP-7282.pdf |publisher=[[House of Commons Library]] |access-date=12 November 2022 |page=18 |quote=The Cuban government regards the US presence in Guantánamo Bay as illegal and insists the 1903 Treaty was obtained by threat of force and is in violation of international law.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://reuters.com/article/idUSN17200921|title=Castro: Cuba not cashing US Guantanamo rent checks|last=Boadle|first=Anthony|publisher=Reuters.com|date=August 17, 2007|access-date=October 8, 2017}}</ref>
==Climate== Guantánamo Bay has a [[hot semi-arid climate]] according to the [[Köppen climate classification]], with high temperatures throughout the year. Rainfall is rather low, and it is one of the driest regions in Cuba.
{{Weather box |location = Guantánamo Bay |single line = Yes |metric first = Yes |Jan record high C = 35 |Feb record high C = 35 |Mar record high C = 33 |Apr record high C = 35 |May record high C = 37 |Jun record high C = 37 |Jul record high C = 39 |Aug record high C = 37 |Sep record high C = 37 |Oct record high C = 38 |Nov record high C = 39 |Dec record high C = 35 |year record high C = |Jan high F = 85 |Feb high F = 85 |Mar high F = 86 |Apr high F = 87 |May high F = 88 |Jun high F = 90 |Jul high F = 91 |Aug high F =92 |Sep high F = 91 |Oct high F = 89 |Nov high F =88 |Dec high F = 86 |year high F =88 |Jan low F = 68 |Feb low F = 68 |Mar low F = 70 |Apr low F = 72 |May low F = 74 |Jun low F = 76 |Jul low F = 76 |Aug low F = 76 |Sep low F = 76 |Oct low F = 75 |Nov low F = 73 |Dec low F = 70 |year low F = |Jan record low C = 13 |Feb record low C = 13 |Mar record low C = 16 |Apr record low C = 17 |May record low C = 18 |Jun record low C = 20 |Jul record low C = 21 |Aug record low C = 20 |Sep record low C = 19 |Oct record low C = 18 |Nov record low C = 16 |Dec record low C = 13 |year record low C = 13 |precipitation colour = green |Jan precipitation mm = 25 |Feb precipitation mm = 23 |Mar precipitation mm = 30 |Apr precipitation mm = 33 |May precipitation mm = 91 |Jun precipitation mm = 53 |Jul precipitation mm = 28 |Aug precipitation mm = 48 |Sep precipitation mm = 76 |Oct precipitation mm = 130 |Nov precipitation mm = 46 |Dec precipitation mm = 28 |year precipitation mm = 610 |source 1 = Weatherbase<ref name=Weatherbase> {{cite web |url =http://www.weatherbase.com/weather/weather.php3?s=76387&refer=wikipedia |title =Weatherbase: Historical Weather for Guantanamo Bay, Cuba |publisher=Weatherbase}} </ref> |date=November 2011 }}
==U.S. control of Guantánamo Bay== [[File:Gitmo Aerial.jpg|frame|right|Aerial view of Guantánamo Bay]] The United States first seized Guantánamo Bay and established a naval base there in 1898 during the [[Spanish–American War]] in the [[Battle of Guantánamo Bay]].<ref name=Nofi>Nofi, A.A., 1995, The Spanish–American War, 1898, Pennsylvania: Combined Books, {{ISBN|0938289578}}</ref>{{rp|160–163}} In 1903, the United States and Cuba signed a lease granting the United States permission to use the land as a coaling and naval station. The lease satisfied the [[Platt Amendment]], passed by the [[United States Congress]], which stated that a naval base at "certain specific points agreed upon by the President of the United States" was needed to "enable the United States to maintain the independence of Cuba."{{cn|date=February 2021}}
==History== [[File:Guantanamo Bay map.png|left|thumb|300px|Map of Cuba with location of Guantánamo Bay indicated]] {{See also|Timeline of Guantánamo Bay}}
The original inhabitants of the bay, the [[Taíno]]s, called it ''Guantánamo''. [[Christopher Columbus]] landed in 1494, naming it ''Puerto Grande''.<ref name="Gott">[[Richard Gott|Gott, Richard]] ''Cuba: A new history'', Yale University Press: 2004</ref>{{page number|date=February 2021}} On landing, Columbus' crew found Taíno fishermen preparing a feast for the local chieftain. When [[Spanish Empire|Spanish]] settlers took control of Cuba, the bay became a vital harbor on the island's south side.{{cn|date=February 2021}}
The bay was briefly renamed as "Cumberland Bay" when a [[Kingdom of Great Britain|British]] expeditionary force captured it in 1741 during the [[War of Jenkins' Ear]]. British Admiral, [[Edward Vernon]], arrived with a force of eight warships and 4,000 soldiers with plans to march on [[Santiago de Cuba]]. However, local Spanish colonial troops defeated him and forced him to withdraw or face becoming a [[prisoner of war|prisoner]].<ref name="Gott"/>{{page number|date=February 2021}} In late 1760, two [[Royal Navy]] [[frigate]]s, {{HMS|Trent|1757|6}} and [[HMS Boreas (1757)|HMS ''Boreas'']] [[cutting out|cut out]] the French [[privateer]]s ''Vainquer'' and ''Mackau'', which were hiding in the bay. The French were also forced to burn the ''Guespe'', another privateer, to prevent her capture.{{cn|date=February 2021}}
During the [[Spanish–American War]] of 1898, the [[United States Navy|U.S. Navy]] fleet attacking Santiago needed shelter from the summer hurricane season. They chose Guantánamo because of its excellent harbor. [[United States Marine Corps|U.S. Marines]] landed with naval support in the [[Battle of Guantánamo Bay|invasion of Guantánamo Bay]] in June 1898. As they moved inland, however, [[Spanish Empire|Spanish]] resistance increased, and the Marines required support from Cuban scouts.{{cn|date=January 2023}}
Guantanamo Bay is of interest to U.S. military planners due to its geographical location in the Caribbean. It became a strategic location in defending the Panama Canal and the southern US coast. It was also a natural haven for naval vessels in the region. Due to other factors, it pushed the US to consider the area as a suitable location for a Naval Base.<ref>Carrington, J. (2022). Guantanamo Bay. A Historical Mystery. Independently published {{ISBN|979-8838304131}}</ref>
[[Guantanamo Bay Naval Base]] surrounds the southern portion of the bay. {{wide image|1911 panorama of Marines at Guantanamo.jpg|800px|align-cap= center|''The [[United States Marine Corps|U.S. Marines]] 1st, 2nd & 3rd Regiments at Deer Point Camp, Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, April 26, 1911''}} The naval base, nicknamed "GTMO" or "Gitmo", covers {{convert|116|km²|0|abbr=out}} on the western and eastern banks of the bay. It was established in 1898, when the United States took control of Cuba from Spain following the [[Spanish–American War]]. The newly-formed American [[protectorate]] incorporated the [[Platt Amendment]] in the [[1901 Constitution of Cuba|1901 Cuban Constitution]]. [[Tomás Estrada Palma]], the first president of Cuba, offered a perpetual lease for the area around Guantánamo Bay on February 23, 1903. The 1903 [[Cuban–American Treaty of Relations (1903)|Cuban–American Treaty of Relations]] held, among other things, that the United States, to operate coaling and naval stations, has "complete jurisdiction and control" of the Guantánamo Bay, while recognizing that the Republic of Cuba retains ultimate sovereignty.<ref>Olga Miranda Bravo, ''Vecinos Indeseables: La Base Yanqui en Guantánamo'' (La Habana: Editorial Ciencias Sociales, 1998)</ref>{{page number|date=February 2021}}
In 1934, a new [[Cuban–American Treaty of Relations (1934)|Cuban-American Treaty of Relations]], reaffirming the lease, granted Cuba and its trading partners free access through the bay, modified the lease payment from $2,000 in U.S. gold coins per year to the 1934 equivalent value of $4,085 in U.S. dollars,{{cn|date=February 2021}} and made the lease permanent unless both governments agreed to break it, or until the U.S. abandoned the base property.<ref>Destination Guantanamo Bay [https://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/dip_cuba001.asp Avalon Law Yale], Retrieved on July 16, 2015</ref>
After the [[Cuban Revolution]] of 1953–1959, [[President of the United States|United States president]] [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] insisted that the status of the base remain unchanged, despite the objections of [[Fidel Castro]]. Since then, the Cuban government has cashed only one of the rent cheques from the U.S. government, and even then, according to Castro, only because of "confusion" in the early days of the Cuban revolution. The remaining uncashed cheques, made out to "Treasurer General of the Republic" (a title that ceased to exist after the revolution), were kept in Castro's office, stuffed into a desk drawer.<ref>{{cite news|url= https://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSN17200921|access-date= December 7, 2007|title= Castro: Cuba not cashing U.S. Guantanamo rent cheques | work= Reuters | first= Anthony | last= Boadle | date= August 17, 2007}}</ref>
In the 1990s, the United States used Guantanamo Bay as a processing center for asylum-seekers and as a camp for HIV-positive refugees.{{cn|date=September 2023}}<ref>{{Cite web |last=Amnesty International |title=LETTER WRITING ACTION Haitian Asylum Seekers USA (Guantánamo) |url=https://www.amnesty.org/en/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/amr510051993en.pdf}}</ref> Over a period of six months, the US interned over 30,000 Haitian refugees in Guantanamo, while another 30,000 fled to the [[Dominican Republic]]. Eventually, the US admitted 10,747 of the Haitians to refugee status in the United States. Most of the refugees were housed in a tent city on the re-purposed airstrip that would later be used to house the complex used for the [[Guantanamo military commissions]]. The refugees who represented discipline or security problems were held on the site that later became [[Camp XRay]], the initial site of the [[Guantanamo Bay detention camp]].{{cn|date=February 2021}} In August 1994, rioting broke out in the detention camps and 20 U.S. military police and 45 Haitians were injured.<ref>{{cite web|title= Gis, Haitians Hurt In Guantanamo Riot|url= https://www.chicagotribune.com/1994/08/16/gis-haitians-hurt-in-guantanamo-riot/|website= chicagotribune.com|date= August 16, 1994|publisher= Chicago Tribune|access-date= August 16, 2015}}</ref>
Since 2002, the base has included detention of individuals deemed of risk to United States national security. In 2009, the U.S. president, [[Barack Obama]], gave orders for the detention camp to close by January 22, 2010. But by the end of his presidency, it remained open due to a congressional refusal of funds for its closure.<ref>{{cite news|url= http://projects.nytimes.com/guantanamo|access-date= October 1, 2011|title= Guantanamo Docket | work= The New York Times}}</ref> [[Eric Lewis (human rights attorney)|Eric Lewis]] (Chairman of Reprieve US and legal representative for Guantanamo detainees) writes that as of 2026, fifteen men remain at Guantanamo to this day. Nine have been charged in military commissions; two have been convicted, one at trial and one through a plea.<ref>{{cite web |title=How Guantanamo lit the fuse for authoritarian rule in Trump’s America |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/guantanamo-bay-taliban-trump-authoritarian-b2914007.html |website=The Independent |language=en |date=8 February 2026}}</ref>
[[Alfred-Maurice de Zayas]] has argued that the 1903 lease agreement was imposed on Cuba under duress and was a treaty between unequals, no longer compatible with modern international law, and voidable ''[[ex nunc]]''. He makes six suggestions for a peaceful settlement, including following the procedure outlined in the [[Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties]].<ref> [http://www.alfreddezayas.com/articles.shtml Compare a Word document titled "The Status of Guantánamo Bay and the Status of the Detainees"] A presentation to the University of British Columbia – Law. Retrieved July 2014 </ref> However, Article 4 of the Vienna Convention states that its provisions do not apply to past treaties retroactively.
In January 2025, U.S. president [[Donald Trump]], said the US would [[Deportation of illegal immigrants in the second presidency of Donald Trump|send to and detain migrants]] in the [[Guantanamo Migrant Operations Center|base]], resuming a practice that the US had employed at Guantanamo Bay previously over decades for migrants intercepted at sea.<ref>{{cite news|url= https://www.barrons.com/articles/trump-administration-considers-detaining-migrants-at-guantanamo-155db1ae|access-date= January 30, 2025|title= Trump Administration Considers Detaining Migrants At Guantanamo | work= Barron's}}</ref>
==See also== * [[Cuba–United States relations]] * [[Guantanamo Bay detention camp]] * [[Platt Amendment]]: Document to guarantee U.S. Navy lease in Cuba
==References== {{Reflist|2}}
==External links== {{Commons category|Guantanamo Bay}} {{Wikinews category|Guantanamo Bay}} *[https://web.archive.org/web/20071020005853/http://digital.library.unt.edu/govdocs/crs/search.tkl?q=detainees&search_crit=title&search=Search&date1=Anytime&date2=Anytime&type=form Read Congressional Research Service (CRS) Reports regarding Guantánamo Detainees] *[https://archive.today/20120805213509/https://www.cnic.navy.mil/Guantanamo/index.htm U.S. Naval Station Guantanamo Bay] — The United States' oldest overseas Naval Base *[https://web.archive.org/web/20060519074754/http://www.cubaminrex.cu/CDH/60cdh/Guantanamo/English/Guantanamo%20US%20black%20hole1.htm Guantánamo: U.S. Black Hole] *[https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm/cmparty/070314/memi282.htm All-Party Parliamentary Group on Guantanamo Bay (APPG-GB)] *[http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/americas/camp_delta_assembly_areas_2003.jpg Camp Delta (detainee) Map] *[http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/world_cities/guantanamo.jpg U.S. Naval Base Guantanamo Bay Map] *[http://projects.nytimes.com/guantanamo Guantanamo Docket] *Human Rights First; [https://web.archive.org/web/20091111085043/http://www.humanrightsfirst.org/pdf/090723-LS-in-pursuit-justice-09-update.pdf In Pursuit of Justice: Prosecuting Terrorism Cases in the Federal Courts (2009)]
{{coord|19.997520|-75.142021|type:waterbody_region:CU|display=title}} {{Authority control}} {{Cuba–United States relations}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Guantanamo Bay}} [[Category:Guantánamo Bay]] [[Category:Geography of Guantánamo Province]] [[Category:Bays of Cuba]] [[Category:Spanish–American War]] [[Category:Cuba–United States relations]]