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  • Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba: Background and Current Issues

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    Guantanamo Bay Naval Base has been operated by the United States in Cuba since 1903 under a treaty that can only be terminated by mutual agreement. The primary mission of the base was to train Atlantic Fleet crews until recently housing over 30,000 Haitian and Cuban refugees. The large refugee operations raise questions for policymakers about funding, compliance with the lease agreement, and security implications of a long-term refugee presence.

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    Guantanamo Bay Naval Base has been operated by the United States in Cuba since 1903 under a treaty that can only be terminated by mutual agreement. The primary mission of the base was to train Atlantic Fleet crews until recently housing over 30,000 Haitian and Cuban refugees. The large refugee operations raise questions for policymakers about funding, compliance with the lease agreement, and security implications of a long-term refugee presence.

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    12 views6 pages

    Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba: Background and Current Issues

    Uploaded by

    gradvmedusa
    Guantanamo Bay Naval Base has been operated by the United States in Cuba since 1903 under a treaty that can only be terminated by mutual agreement. The primary mission of the base was to train Atlantic Fleet crews until recently housing over 30,000 Haitian and Cuban refugees. The large refugee operations raise questions for policymakers about funding, compliance with the lease agreement, and security implications of a long-term refugee presence.

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    http:llpennyhill.

    com Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba: Background and Current Issues
    Ronald O'Rourke Specialist in National Defense Mark P. Sullivan Specialist i n Latin American Affairs Foreign Affairs and National Defense Division

    SUMMARY
    Guantanamo has been a U.S. base since 1903, and under a 1934 treaty which remains in force, the U.S. presence can only be terminated by mutual agreement or by abandonment by the United States, according to the State Department. Until the recent refugee operation, the primary mission of the base was to train the crews of U.S. Atlantic Fleet ships. At the end of August 1994, 14,332 Haitian and 15,842 Cuban refugees were housed at the base. The recent increase in refugee operations raises several questions for U.S. policymakers, including: the source of funding for the operations; whether the operations are contrary to the terms of the lease agreement with Cuba; and the ramifications for U.S. security a t the base if the Cubans and Haitians are housed for an extended period of time.

    LOCATION, DESCRIPTION, AND PERSONNEL'


    U.S. Naval Station, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, the oldest U.S. military installation outside of the United States, is located on the Southeast coast of Cuba. The total area of the base is about 45 square miles, including about 32 square miles of landz and about 13 square miles of water in Guantanamo Bay. The 2.5-mile-wide bay divides the land area of the base into Eastern and Western portions that are connected by an hourly ferry. A naval station is on the Eastern portion of the base; a naval air station

    Principal sources for backpound information on the base: U.S. Naval Station, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba: BriefHistory, a one-page fact sheet from the Guantanamo base public affairs officer, dated January 1993, supplied to CRS by the U.S. Navy Office of Legislative Affairs on Aug. 24,1994; U.S. Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service. Guantanamo Bay Base, Cuba: An Overview of Its History and Debate on Its Strategic Value. Unnumbered CRS Report by Nina M. Serafino, October 8, 1981. 7 p.; Scheina, Martin J. The U.S. Presence in Guantanamo. Strategic Review, Spring 1976: 81-88. For comparison, the land area of the District of Columbia is about 61 squ miles.

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