Home > Terms > English, UK (UE) > Guantanamo Bay

Guantanamo Bay

Is a bay located in Guantánamo Province at the southeastern end of Cuba. It is the largest harbour on the south side of the island and is surrounded by steep hills creating an enclave cut off from its immediate hinterland. The United States assumed territorial control over the southern portion of Guantánamo Bay under the 1903 Cuban-American Treaty, which granted it a perpetual lease of the area. The United States, by virtue of its complete jurisdiction and control, maintains "de facto" sovereignty over this territory, while Cuba retained ultimate sovereignty over the territory. The current government of Cuba regards the U.S. presence in Guantánamo Bay as illegal and insists the Cuban-American Treaty was obtained by threat of force in violation of international law.

U.S. Naval Base Guantanamo Bay is the oldest U.S. base overseas and the only one in a Communist country. Located on the southeast corner of Cuba, in the Oriente Province, the base is about 400 air miles from Miami, Florida.

Since 2002, the base has included the detainment camp for captured alleged al-Qaeda personnel who have been, or may someday be, charged with terrorism, as well as those still deemed to be a risk to US national security. In 2009, U.S. President Barack Obama gave orders for the detention camp to be closed by 22 January 2010. As of present day, the detention camp remains open.

This is auto-generated content. You can help to improve it.
0
  • Part of Speech: proper noun
  • Synonym(s):
  • Blossary:
  • Industry/Domain: Military
  • Category: Navy
  • Company:
  • Product:
  • Acronym-Abbreviation:
Collect to Blossary

Member comments

You have to log in to post to discussions.

Terms in the News

Featured Terms

Harry8L
  • 0

    Terms

  • 0

    Blossaries

  • 1

    Followers

Industry/Domain: Environment Category: Pollution

Oil spill

Oil spill is a form of pollution that refers to the accidental release of liquid petroleum into the environment due to human activity. One common form ...

Contributor

Featured blossaries

The Moon

Category: Geography   1 8 Terms

Pharmacology

Category: Health   1 1 Terms