Photo: Aljazeera
Castro insists the Guantanamo base is illegally occupied

The 45 square mile base at Guantanamo Bay is under U.S. control but is not on U.S. soil. It has been leased since 1903 from Cuba for 2000 gold coins a year, or $4085 in perpetuity8. “Castro insists the area is illegally occupied by the U.S. which leases it under a pre-revolution agreement. The Cuban president refuses to cash US checks for use of the base, which he keeps in a desk drawer to show visitors and reporters.” 15

Initially Cuba supported the detention of terrorists there but that has changed. A broadcast by the state-run media on December 26, 2003, reported that the Cuban Parliament passed a statement calling Guantanamo a “concentration camp” where “hundreds of foreign prisoners are subjected to indescribable humiliations” 4.