So: the United States, at some point in the unspecified past finding it useful and convenient to establish a military base at Guantanamo Bay, makes arrangements with our good buddy and constant ally, Cuba??…
Isn’t this just a bit like Iran having a military base operating in the Negev Desert of Israel?
I know I must be missing some crucial piece of information here…heck, I haven’t even heard reports of any muttering from Fidel Castro about the propriety of our interrogators’ behavior at Gitmo…!!!
Actually, before Castor came to power in the 50’s, Cuba used to be “our good buddy and constant ally.” The base dates from that time. I believe arrangements were made for the base after the Spanish-American war when America freed Cuba from Spain and granted it its independence. The U.S. thought it would be a good idea to have a base in the Caribbean for refueling, if I recall correctly, and it made arrangements with the then-friendly Cuban government to do so.
Renob pretty much covered it. The only thing I’d add is that when the lease was made up, it was written in such a way that the U.S. had the lease “in perpetuity” and that Cuba had no way to revoke the lease as long as the U.S. kept its end of the deal (the details of which I don’t recall). Fidel has been unhappy about Gitmo pretty much from the get-go, but does NOT want to give the U.S. an excuse for the war, so he doesn’t do anything about it other than complain. And those complaints are such old news, no one bothers to report it anymore.
