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A Permanent Supply Base In Cuba

An arid plot of land along a Cuban bay plays a unique, and pivotal, role in military history. Guantanamo Bay conjures up different images, depending on the age of the individual to whom it is mentioned. To people today, it is the detention camps where the US holds individuals suspected of being the most dangerous of terrorists. Older generations will know it as a major US naval base from where many a new navyman wrote his first letters home from outside the continental US. Guantanamo Bay, however, has a much longer history.

Guantanamo Bay itself consists of two bays, an upper and a lower bay, with the lower bay — the portion leased by the US — comprising more than 14 square miles of anchorage alone. Most people are surprised to learn that the land surrounding the bay is not lush tropical jungle, but semiarid, similar to parts of the American southwest.

The first record of the bay appears in the accounts of Christopher Columbus' second voyage to the New World. On 30 April 1494, Columbus records stopping in the bay, which he named "Puerto Grande" or "Great Port". Landing at Fisherman's Point, near the bay's entrance, Columbus and his crew made camp for the night.

The bay's excellent harbor made it a logical base for pirates who plundered the Spanish treasure fleets that sailed the route through the Windward Passage between Cuba and what is now Haiti. Pirates, such as Rosillo, Sores and Rosario, are among those reputed to have used the bay during their operations.

In 1741, British Vice Admiral Edward Vernon used the bay to launch an assault against the Spanish at Santiago, 40 miles away. After landing his 3,400 men, in what the British called "Cumberland Bay," the assault bogged down. The effort proved to be a colossal failure, and 2,000 troops became sick with tropical diseases. Tradition states that a hospital — more properly, an isolation camp — was established on an island in the bay, which is still known as Hospital Cay.

In spite of its excellent qualities as a harbor, the Spanish did not make an effort to develop the bay's potential. One hundred and fifty years after Vernon's ill-fated expedition, Guantanamo Bay again became a stepping stone for an invading force, this time with greater success. During the Spanish-American War, the American Navy blockaded the port of Santiago, bottling up Spanish Admiral Pasqual Cervera's squadron. The Americans realized that a nearby port was needed, where they could refill their vessels' coal bunkers away from heavy seas and use as a safe anchorage in case a hurricane should strike. For these reasons, a naval force, which included the newly formed First Marine Battalion, was sent to Guantanamo Bay. With the American Navy controlling the bay's waters, virtually unmolested, the Marines landed to stop land-based threats, becoming the first major American force to land in Cuba. This land campaign, significantly, came to define the role of the US Marine Corps as a mobile, self-contained multi-weaponed force capable of taking and holding an advanced base. After landing, the First Marine Battalion went on the offensive, routing a numerically superior Spanish force at the Battle of Cuzco Well.

Even before the Spanish-American War, the US government realized the need for a permanent supply base in Cuba. The island was one of several locations that were deemed imperative for bases to protect the planned Nicaraguan Canal, later built in Panama. Following the war, the US was in a position to negotiate with the fledgling Cuban government for land for the base.

On 10 December 1903, Cuba turned over the land to the US which became the Guantanamo Bay base. Since its inception, the base has experienced a continual ebb and flow in its fortunes. Periodically, but consistently, the US has questioned the need to have the base, followed by some unexpected event which has proven the base's value, followed by a period of increased investment.

Initially, the new base was centered on North and South Toro Cays, at the northern end of the leased land. However, by 1906, a crucial coaling operation, supplying ships with their lifeblood, was established on historic Hospital Cay. The Fleet Rifle Range was developed farther south near Evans Point. At this time, the future of the base was already in question, but the investment in new machine and wood shops, and storage facilities at Corinaso Point, closer to the bay's entrance, gave the base a new lease on life. The bay's fine anchorage had already made it the winter training ground for the US Atlantic Fleet.

WWI came, and the base was not prepared to meet the necessities of the war. Realizing the needs, funds were appropriated for modernization and expansion, but the works, mainly fuel and water storage facilities, were not completed in time to aid in the war effort. For the next 20 years, the base continued to be used for training. In 1927, the bay was the site of joint Atlantic and Pacific Fleet maneuvers with over 200 ships plying the bay's waters. However, by 1938, when the coaling base closed due to oil becoming the major ship fuel, the population of the base had slipped to less than 300 personnel.

WWII was the next watershed in Guantanamo's history, proving its ongoing value. Immediately prior to the war, the US invested $34 million in the base and the number of personnel stationed there swelled to more than 13,000. Few realize today, that the base at Guantanamo was in the thick of the fight, with German U-boats attacking allied vessels in the surrounding Atlantic and Caribbean, sinking 257 vessels in the Caribbean alone in 1942. Guantanamo Bay became the US's second busiest port, after New York City, as a center where convoys ferrying imperative supplies to Europe formed. For emergency use and perhaps to handle the expected high number of casualties from the U-boat attacks, an underground hospital was built at the base, which, fortunately, went unused as the allies conquered the U-boat threat.

Following WWII, the future of the base was once again in doubt. Operations were consolidated, bringing the Shakedown Task Force, a forerunner of the Fleet Training Group, to the base. The base became the usual destination for "shakedown," or training cruises, making Guantanamo Bay the first port of call for many new boot camp graduates leaving the US mainland for the first time. An air squadron and a large drydock were also relocated to the base. After a lull, the Korean War brought about another expansion.

When Fidel Castro came to power in 1959, the boundary between the US's leased land and the remainder of Cuba became more important. In time, the border fence- line's defenses would grow to have the world's largest minefield along with over eight miles of cactus! During the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, the base was quickly reinforced against a potential Cuban assault.

In more recent years, the base has taken on unexpected roles. During the Cuban and Haitian boatlifts of the 1990s, the base was the site of Operation Sea Signal, with nearly 50,000 refugees being housed on the base's grounds. In fact, Camp X-Ray was actually built to house the criminal element found among the boatlift refugees. The base also became a center for the interdiction of drug smugglers.

Today, the base has again been faced with a new and unexpected role — the housing of suspected terrorists. The detainees were housed at Camp X-Ray for four months. Since 2002, Camp X- Ray has been abandoned. At present, several other camps are being used to house the suspects, several of which consist of modern, enclosed maximum security prisons. The base has also been the site of controversial military tribunals for the detainees.

The Guantanamo Bay Naval Station was created through a series of agreements and treaties between the US and the Cuban Republic. The first two agreements were inked in 1903, with the stipulations in these agreements confirmed in a 1934 treaty. These documents have some surprising limitations and requirements.

First, it is not commonly realized that the initial agreement actually leased land for three naval bases. However, only the land at Guantanamo was actually used in the long term. A second base at Bahia Hondo was used for nine years before being abandoned. What is surprising to some is that the US still pays rent for the leased land. In 1903, the agreed annual payment for leasing the land at various locations in Cuba was $2,000 in gold. Presently, with inflation, the payment is more than $4,000. Protesting the base's existence, former Cuban leader Fidel Castro refused to cash the lease payment checks provided by the US.

Also, given the sensitivity of the base, it would be expected that Cuban vessels and those of its trading partners — which, during the Cold War, included the USSR and currently includes the Peoples Republic of China — would not be allowed to traverse the base's waters. However, by treaty, unobstructed water-borne commerce supporting the Cuban towns beyond the base, in the upper bay, is required. As a result, vessels from Cuba and its allies are allowed to pass, under US escort, from the bay's entrance, past the American installations and into the upper bay. Those on the vessels have clear views of virtually the entire base.

Another unusual aspect of the treaty is that no commercial ventures are permitted on the leased land. Only government activities related to the base are permitted. In the 1930s, a Cuban living on the base, Abelardo Marquez, started a business supplying beef, milk and other items raised on a portion of the base where he had a grazing concession. Because of this treaty clause, he was required to move off of the base to continue his business. However, the base now has a McDonald's and several other fast food restaurants, but these establishments operate under a government contract and are considered to be an extension of the Navy Exchange — the government store system that provides consumer goods to the military personnel on the base.

Finally, concerning the termination of the treaty, the US can continue to utilize the land unless both the US and Cuba agree to end the lease. Cuba also would regain the use of the land should the US abandon the base. Neither event is likely to occur in the near future. The future is uncertain for the base, but judging by the past, when the detention camps close, the naval base on Guantanamo Bay will still be making history.

Patrick McSherry. Guantanamo Bay . History Magazine. April/May 2009.

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