Guantanamo is a province in Cuba which surrounds Guantanamo Bay. In 1903 the area surrounding Guantanamo Bay was given to the United States in a perpetual lease in the Cuban-American treaty. The treaty gave the United States complete jurisdiction for a naval and coaling station.
The Guantanamo Bay Naval Base covers about 45 square miles and is also where the United States has a detention center for persons who are enemy combatants. This detention center has been open since 2002 and houses detainees from Afghanistan and Iraq. These detainees are not protected by the Geneva Convention for various reasons. One of these reasons is because they are not members of any armed forces in any government.
There are many people that have called for the closure of the detention centers all over the world. In 2009, after Barack Obama took the office of President of the United States, he ordered the closure of the detention center. He has ordered that the detainees be moved to federal prisons in the United States. The center is due to close in about one year.
The Cuban government has opposed the long term lease of the Naval Base since 1959 when the Castro government took power. Castro only cashed the first rent check the U.S. government sent him for the lease. The rest of the checks that have been sent to him since coming to power have said to be sitting in his desk, un-cashed.
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