Guantanamo Bay Naval Base

Guantanamo Bay Naval Base

Coordinates: 19°54′N 75°9′W / 19.9°N 75.15°W / 19.9; -75.15

United States Naval Station Guantanamo Bay
Guantánamo Bay, Cuba

Aerial view of Guantanamo Bay
Type Military base
Built 1898
In use 1898 - present
Controlled by United States Navy
Current
commander
Captain John R. Nettleton, USN
Battles/wars Battle of Guantánamo Bay

United States Naval Station Guantanamo Bay (also called Gitmo or GTMO) is located on 45 square miles (120 km2) of land and water at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba which the United States leased for use as a coaling (fueling) station following the Cuban-American Treaty of 1903. The base is located on the shore of Guantánamo Bay at the southeastern end of Cuba. It is the oldest overseas U.S. Navy Base, and the only one in a country with which the United States does not have diplomatic relations. The Cuban government opposes the presence of the naval base, claiming that the lease is invalid under international law as it was not a sovereign nation at the time. The United States argues this point is irrelevant because Cuba apparently ratified the lease post-revolution, and with full sovereignty, when it cashed one rent check in accordance with the disputed treaty.

Since 2002, the naval base has contained a military prison, the Guantanamo Bay detention camp, for persons alleged to be unlawful combatants captured in Afghanistan and later in Iraq. The alleged mistreatment of prisoners, the proven mistreatment of some prisoners, and their denial of protection under the Geneva Conventions, has been a source of international controversy.

Read more about Guantanamo Bay Naval Base:  Geography, Cactus Curtain, Detention Camp, Represented Businesses, Airfields, Education, Climate

Famous quotes containing the words bay, naval and/or base:

    A great work by an Englishman is like a great battle won by England. It is an unfading bay tree.
    Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844–1889)

    It is now time to stop and to ask ourselves the question which my last commanding officer, Admiral Hyman Rickover, asked me and every other young naval officer who serves or has served in an atomic submarine. For our Nation M for all of us M that question is, “Why not the best?”
    Jimmy Carter (James Earl Carter, Jr.)

    In the land of turkeys in turkey weather
    At the base of the statue, we go round and round.
    What a beautiful history, beautiful surprise!
    Monsieur is on horseback. The horse is covered with mice.
    Wallace Stevens (1879–1955)