Subject: Re: New on Guantanamo
Date: May 12, 2005 @ 02:39
Author: aletheiak ("aletheiak" <aletheiak@...>)
Prev Post in Topic Next [All Posts]
Prev Post in Time Next
--- In BoundaryPoint@yahoogroups.com, "L. A. Nadybal" <lnadybal@c...> wrote:
> The U.S. Navy Public Affairs Office there has a website.
>
> A couple of items were new and of interest (at least to me): 1) the
> US had two leased territories in Cuba and (2), the U.S. considers that
> while it occupies the bay, Cuban sovereignty has ceased and that it is
> U.S. territory" subservient to U.S. legislation. That goes against
> the contentions of the Department of Defense which holds Al Kaida
> prisoners without access to U.S. justice because it isn't "US
> territory". The government is trying to have it both ways.
>
> Quotes below:
>
> "The first lease agreement... was signed by President Estrada Palma on
> 16 February 1903, and by President Theodore Roosevelt on 23 February
> 1903. By this instrument Cuba leased to the United States certain
> areas of land and water in Guantanamo and Bahia Honda for the purpose
> of "coaling and naval stations". (Bahia Honda was abandoned after nine
> years of occupation). Concerning Guantanamo, the agreement describes
> the leased "areas of land and water" as follows:
>
> "In Guantanamo (see Hydrographic Office Chart 1857), from a point on
> the South Coast, 4.37 miles to the eastward of Windward Point Light
> House, a line running north (true) a distance of 4.25 nautical miles;
> from the northern extremity of this line, a line running west (true),
> a distance of 5.87 nautical miles; from the western extremity of this
> last line, a line running south-west (true), 3.31 nautical miles; from
> the southwestern extremity of this last line, a line running south
> (true) to the seacoast".
>
> The land area above described comprises 19,621 acres, 11,058 on the
> windward side, and 8,563 on the leeward. The water areas, consisting
> principally of Guantanamo Bay from the mouth of the harbor
> (theoretical line joining Leeward and Windward Points) to the northern
> boundary line, comprise 9,196 acres. The total naval reservation
> contains 28,817 acres or about 45 square miles of land and water. (The
> foregoing figures are based on the original survey).
>
> Furthermore, the agreement granted the United States the right to use
> and occupy the waters adjacent to the above described areas of land
> and water. "Adjacent waters" are interpreted to mean the water leading
> up to the harbor entrance and the water along the seacoast out to the
> three mile limit. The United States has the right to improve and
> deepen the entrances to the leased areas of land and water, and to
> improve and deepen the anchorages therein, and generally to do. any
> and all things to fit the premises as a coaling and naval station, and
> for no other purpose.
>
> Over the leased areas of land and water, comprising the Naval
> reservation, Cuba consented that during the period of occupation, the
> United States would exercise "complete jurisdiction and control over
> and within said areas", including the right to acquire for the public
> purposes of the United States any land or property therein by purchase
> or by right of eminent domain with full compensation to the owners
> thereof. On the other hand, the United States recognized "the
> continuance of the ultimate sovereignty of Cuba over and above the
> leased areas". "Ultimate", meaning final or eventual, is a key word
> here. It is interpreted that Cuban sovereignty is interrupted during
> the period of our occupancy, since we exercise complete jurisdiction
> and control, but in case occupation were terminated, the area would
> revert to the ultimate sovereignty of Cuba.
>
> Restrictions
>
> The only restrictions placed by this document on the United States are:
>
> (a) The area must be used only for a coaling and naval station
> ("station" here used in the broad sense of the word.)
>
> (b) Vessels engaged in Cuban trade shall have free passage through the
> waters included in the grant.
>
> Pursuant to the agreement of February 1903, the Naval reservation was
> surveyed and marked out by a joint United States-Cuban Board
> (Commission). The first meeting of this body took place on board the
> USS Olympia anchored in Guantanamo Bay on 27 May 1903, and the general
> plans of the operations were agreed upon. On the next day the work of
> survey and marking out of the Naval Station was begun, and was
> continued without interruption on working days until its termination
> on 8 July 1903.
>
> In the years since this survey there has been occasional
> misunderstanding of what constitutes the water areas of the Naval
> Reservation. There was no misunderstanding in the minds of the joint
> United States-Cuban body which made the above survey. Their thinking
> was crystal-clear. The last part of their report, which must be
> considered ancillary to the original lease agreement, is quoted in
> evidence on this point:
>
> "G-Area of the Naval Station
> The area of water and land, obtained analytically, included within the
> limits of the Naval Station, closing the perimeter across the entrance
> to the harbor by a line joining Leeward and Windward Points, was found
> to be 11661.9832 hectares, equal to 28817.360 acres.
>
> "To determine the proportion of land and water in the area, it would
> be necessary to survey the interior coast lines of the bay and the
> Guantanamo River, a work which on account of its nature and extent,
> would have required about three months to do.
>
> Surveying the land
>
> "Considering that in the year 1899, the officers of the gunboat Eagle
> of the United States Navy were several months on the ground doing
> precisely this work, together with soundings of the bay, and that the
> accuracy of their work was well checked by the present survey, the
> notes and original plans of work were asked for and received from
> Washington. With these data, the interior coast lines of the
> accompanying plan were plotted, using the same scale, 1 to 10,000, of
> the original plans. By planimeter measurements the following result
> was obtained.
>
> "Area of Land
> Seven thousand nine hundred forty and 2832/10,000 hectares equals
> Nineteen thousand six hundred twenty and 848/1000 acres.
>
> "Area of Water of Public Domain
> Three thousand seven hundred twenty-one and 7000/10,000 hectares equal
> Nine thousand one hundred ninety-six and 512/1000 acres.
>
> "Total Area of the Naval Station
> Eleven thousand six hundred and sixty-one and 9832/10,000 hectares
> equals twenty-eight thousand eight hundred seventeen and 360/1000 acres".
>
> The above report was signed for Cuba by José Primelles, Director
> General of Public Works, President of Cuban Commission, and by
> Augustine Gordillo, Engineer in Charge; and for the United States, by
> Captain H. W. Lyon, Senior Member of the U. S. Board, and by LCDR
> Warren McLean and LT H. K. Benham, all of the U.S. Navy. The place and
> date of signature was on board the "U. S. Flagship Olympia" in
> Guantanamo Bay, 8 July 1903.
>
> Supplementary Agreement
>
> In the meantime, a supplementary agreement concerning the Naval
> reservation had been reached between the United States and Cuba. This
> agreement which was signed at Havana on 2 July 1903, and approved by
> President Theodore Roosevelt on 2 October 1903, is appended for
> reference. The salient points of this agreement are as follows:
>
> (a) The United States contracted to pay Cuba the annual sum of two
> thousand dollars in gold.
>
> (b) All private lands or other real property were to be acquired by
> Cuba with funds to be provided by the United States, such funds to be
> accepted as advance payment on the annual rental of $2000. (This
> clause was obviously for the purpose of acquiring land and property
> from property owners in order that Cuba could lease the area with no
> private encumbrances).
>
> (c) The areas were to be surveyed and the boundaries distinctly marked
> by permanent fences or enclosures-the United States to bear the
> expense of construction and maintenance of such fences or enclosures.
>
> (d) The Unites States agreed that no person, partnership, or
> corporation would be permitted to establish a commercial, industrial,
> or other enterprise within the reservation.
>
> (e) It was agreed that fugitives from justice charged with crimes and
> misdemeanors amenable to Cuban law, taking refuge in the reservation,
> should be delivered to Cuban authorities, on demand; and likewise that
> fugitives from justice charged with crimes or misdemeanors amenable to
> United States law, committed within the reservation, taking refuge in
> Cuban territory, should be delivered on demand.
>
> (f) It was agreed that materials of all kinds, merchandise, stores,
> and munitions of war imported into the reservation, for exclusive use
> and consumption therein, should not be subject to payment of customs
> duties nor any other fees or charges, and the vessels which might
> carry the same would not be subject to payment of port, tonnage,
> anchorage, or other fees. This in effect, made Guantanamo Bay a
> "duty-free port". It was further agreed, however, that such materials,
> merchandise, stores, and munitions of war should not be transported
> from the reservation into Cuban territory.
>
> (g) The United States agreed, except in case of war, to place no
> obstacle in the way of vessels entering or departing from Guantanamo
> Bay en route to or from Cuban ports (e.g., Caimanera); such vessels
> within the limits of Cuban territory to be subject exclusively to
> Cuban laws and authorities.
>
> Treaty of 1934
>
> In all provisions regarding the Guantanamo area, the original
> agreement (February 1903) and the supplementary agreement were later
> confirmed by the Treaty of 1934 between the United States and Cuba,
> signed at Washington on 29 May 1934. A copy is appended for reference.
> This treaty has the effect of giving the United States a perpetual
> lease on this reservation, capable of being voided only by our
> abandoning the area or by mutual agreement between the two countries.
> The so-called "Platt Amendment," which gave the United States the
> right to intervene in Cuba, died with this treaty. Bahia Honda was not
> mentioned, having long since been abandoned.
>
> Thus it is clear that at Guantanamo Bay we have a Naval reservation
> which, for all practical purposes, is American territory. Under the
> foregoing agreements, the United States has for approximately fifty
> years exercised the essential elements of sovereignty over this
> territory, without actually owning it. Unless we abandon the area or
> agree to a modification of the terms of our occupancy, we can continue
> in the present status as long as we like. Persons on the reservation
> are amenable only to United States legislative enactments. There are a
> few restrictions on our freedom of action, but they present no serious
> problem. We may not use the reservation for other than a naval
> station; we have agreed not to interfere with the passage of vessels
> engaged in Cuban trade; private enterprise is forbidden on the
> reservation; and we are obligated to prevent the smuggling of
> materials and merchandise into Cuban territory.
>
> Images of GTMO in 1920sThe prosecution of Cuban Nationals and other
> aliens who commit crimes and misdemeanors on the reservation presents
> a subject that should be mentioned. Until the advent of the Uniform
> Code of Military Justice on 31 May 1951, the United States has had no
> peacetime legal machinery for trying such offenders. Accordingly, we
> have habitually requested local Cuban courts to exercise concurrent
> jurisdiction and handle such cases. Because essential witnesses,
> usually U. S. military personnel, are oftentimes transferred before
> offenders are brought to trial, this procedure has its shortcomings.
> However, it will likely be continued. In a reciprocal manner, U. S.
> military personnel, charged with offenses in Cuba, are habitually
> turned over to U. S. jurisdiction for legal action.
>
> Closed Port
>
> While this chapter is designed to cover the terms of our lease, and
> what they mean in a legal sense, no outline of the reservation's legal
> status would be complete and up-to-date without mention of the
> executive order which made Guantanamo Bay a "closed port". This order,
> signed by the President on 1 May 1941 and currently found in General
> Order No. 13, establishes Guantanamo Bay as a "Naval Defensive Sea
> Area" and a "Naval Air Space Reservation". By its terms no vessel or
> other craft, other than public vessels of the United States and
> vessels engaged in Cuban trade, may be navigated into the area, unless
> similarly authorized, no aircraft, except other than public aircraft
> of the United States, may be flown into the reservation. In other
> words, Guantanamo Bay is closed to commercial shipping and aircraft,
> except vessels engaged in Cuban trade, and also to foreign warships
> and aircraft. Vessels and aircraft in distress can be the only
> exceptions to this regulation."