Guantanamo Bay
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Guantanamo Bay is an island located off the southeastern coast of Cuba. Currently leased by the U.S. military, it is central to American military operations both in the Caribbean and around the world. According to the official U.S. Navy website for Guantanamo Bay, the naval station "serves as the cornerstone of U.S. military operations in the Caribbean Theater providing logistics support to ... U.S. Navy and Coast Guard vessels and aircraft..." In addition, the website goes on, the naval station is central to regional security and to military efforts to prevent terrorism and drug trafficking. [Id.]
The Americans and Guantanamo
The United States first acquired the land around the Bay in 1898 when it occupied Cuba in the aftermath of the Spanish-American War. [Amy Kaplan, "Where is Guantanamo?"]. Since that time, Guantanamo has "played a strategic role in the changing exercise of U.S. power in the region as a coaling station, a naval base, a cold war outpost, and a detention center for unwanted refugees." [Id.]
| Author: Nina Farnia Status: Student Authored, Not Student Reviewed, Not Faculty Reviewed Last Major Update: May 31, 2009 |
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