How Did United States Get Naval Base Cuba. Guantanamo Bay became a lease agreement between Cuba and the United States to get a naval base. It happened in 1898 during the Spanish-American war.
Five years later, there was a lease agreement between the two countries. The Guantanamo Bay lease was required to implement the congressional Platt Amendment.
In 1934, Cuba and the United States signed a treaty that gave America a perpetual lease to the area. The U.S. can’t open a casino resort there, however: Private enterprise is banned under the terms of the treaty. The lease can be broken only by mutual agreement, so as a practical matter, Guantanamo Bay is U.S. property.
The Naval base was there before Castro and will be there after him. It is also the famous camp for war prisoners. Several members of Al Qaeda are locked up and awaiting trial at Guantanamo Bay.
