Guantanamo Not That High On Cuba’s Wish List

Even as it is rankled by the U.S. troop presence, Havana may find the base serves a better purpose as a symbol of American hegemony.
Carol J. Williams, Los Angeles Times, April 18, 2007

Fidel Castro wages silent protest against the U.S. military “tenants” of this bay in southern Cuba from a drawer in his desk. There lie 47 uncashed checks drawn on the U.S. Treasury, each for $4,085, the annual rent fixed in a 1903 lease agreement that has vexed the Cuban leader since a leftist revolution brought him to power nearly half a century ago.

The presence of U.S. troops on Cuban soil has long rankled Castro, who, before taking ill in July and temporarily ceding presidential authority to his brother Raul, often ranted about the “imperialist occupation” in speeches and broadcasts. But would he take it back if Washington offered to tear up the lease today?

Julia Sweig, director of Latin American studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, pointed out the international outcry over the Pentagon’s use of the base at Guantanamo to detain and prosecute prisoners held in the U.S.-declared war on terrorism, and suggested handing over the property as a possible solution. “One way to unload the problem would be to give it back to Cuba,” she said. “The question is, would the Cubans want it back?

“Because it’s become such a global symbol of what has gone wrong with America – not just a symbol of our colonial impulses but of the anti-imperialist fight throughout Latin America – it’s something Cuba uses to greater benefit than getting the base back.”

In a report issued last month on Guantanamo’s role in the troubled diplomatic relationship between Havana and Washington, the Council on Hemispheric Affairs think tank concluded that returning the territory to Cuba would be essential to ending the United States‘ perceived domination of Latin American neighbors.

During President Bush’s trip last month through Latin America, even friendly leaders reminded him of the message conveyed to the region by U.S. military occupation of the Cuban territory, said the council’s director, Larry Birns. “Guantanamo is the symbol of 19th century gunboat diplomacy practiced by Washington,” Birns said. He added that a movement was gaining ground throughout the Western Hemisphere “questioning the United States‘ legitimacy in occupying Guantanamo under the present arrangement.”