Guantanamo Bay - U.S. foothold in
communist Cuba
MIAMI, April 7 (Reuters) - Here are key facts on the U.S. Naval Base Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, soon
to become temporary home to 20,000 refugees from Kosovo.
The base, called "Gitmo'' by generations of U.S. servicemen, is a small part of America
located in a corner of communist Cuba.
The base is surrounded by barbed wire and minefields marking one of the last Cold War front
lines, but inside it boasts a golf course and its own McDonald's restaurant as well as military
facilities.
U.S. servicemen on the base conduct exercises, maintain warships and monitor Cuban airspace. In
recent years, the base served as a camp for refugees from Cuba, Haiti and now the Yugoslav province
of Kosovo.
Once a rollicking ``rest and recreation'' post where U.S. servicemen could enjoy the pleasures
of pre-revolutionary Cuba in nearby towns, the base since the Cuban revolution of 1959 has been an
isolated enclave. The base weathered such events as the failed Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961 and the
1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.
Cuban President Fidel Castro calls it a ``dagger plunged into the heart of Cuban soil.''
LOCATION: Southeast corner of Cuba in Guantanamo Province, about 400 air miles from Miami.
SIZE: 45 square miles of land and water, 2.5 miles wide.
RESIDENTS: 3,800 permanent residents, including 2,000 military and more than 1,500 U.S.
civilians and contractors, including Jamaicans, Filipinos, Cuban exiles and other foreign nationals.
HISTORY:
1898 - Founded after U.S. Marines land at bay in 1898 in Spanish-American War.
1903 - The United States leases it for use as a coaling station.
1934 - Treaty grants Cuba free access through the bay, payment of $2,000 per year tied to gold
(equating to $4,085 today) and a requirement that the U.S. and Cuba must mutually consent to
terminate the lease.
1959 - Cuban revolution brings Fidel Castro to power.
1961 - Diplomatic relations with Cuba cut by President Dwight Eisenhower. U.S. Marines and Cuban
troops begin patrolling opposite sides of the base's 17.4-mile fence line as many Cubans seek refuge
on the base.
1962 - President John Kennedy announces presence of Soviet missiles in Cuba. Family members of
service personnel stationed at the base and many base employees evacuated.
1964 - Castro cuts off water and supplies to the base in retaliation for several incidents in
which Cuban fishermen were fined by the U.S. government for fishing in Florida waters. Since then,
the base has been self-sufficient.
1991 - 34,000 Haitian refugees pass through Guantanamo Bay after a violent coup in Haiti.
1994 - Operation Sea Signal provides humanitarian assistance to thousands of Haitian and Cuban
migrants. Refugee population peaks at more than 50,000.
1995 - Last Haitian migrants depart.
1996 - Last Cuban migrants leave.
1996 - U.S. Marines begin clearing mines from no man's land and aim to finish task by 1999.
1999 - Preparations made to house refugees from Kosovo.
15:00 04-07-99
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