Guantánamo, Part 2: PERMANENT OCCUPATION OF PART

This excerpt from Cuba and the United States: A Chronological History (Jane Franklin, 1997) describes precisely how the permanent occupation of part of Cuba began at Guantánamo.  Washington supposedly wants to create democracy throughout Cuba, but it has turned the one area it controls into a notorious prison.  For more about that, see "Guantánamo Prison" at my homepage, janefranklin.info.
Jane Franklin

"December 10, 1898   Spain and the United States sign the Treaty of Paris.  The United States emerges with control of four new territories:  Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Philippines and Guam.  Although the treaty officially grants Cuba independence, the U.S. flag‑‑not the Cuban flag‑‑is raised over Havana.  The United States installs a military government to pacify Cuba.

January 1, 1899  Spain formally surrenders its jurisdiction in Cuba to U.S. military forces commanded by General John R. Brooke, the first U.S. military governor.

December 23, 1899  General Leonard Wood, veteran of U.S. campaigns against Native Americans, replaces Brooke as military governor.

1900  General Wood calls an election for a Cuban constitutional convention, which meets in November and draws up a Constitution modeled upon the U.S. Constitution without specifying the nature of future relations with the United States.

1901  To codify control of Cuba, the U.S. Congress on March 2 adds the Platt Amendment to an Army Appropriations bill.  The amendment provides that Cuba has only a limited right to conduct its own foreign policy and debt policy; the United States may intervene militarily at any time; the Isle of Pines shall be omitted from the boundaries of Cuba until the title to it is adjusted by future treaty; Cuba will sell or lease to the United States "lands necessary for coaling or naval stations at certain specified points to be agreed upon."  Since the U.S. Government makes it clear that its military occupation will not end until this amendment becomes part of Cuban law, Cuba incorporates the Platt Amendment into its 1901 Constitution.

1901  General Wood supervises what the United States calls a democratic election for national offices, but the franchise excludes Afro‑Cubans, women, and those with less than $250.  Tomás Estrada Palma is elected president.

May 20, 1902  The U.S. military occupation ends as Estrada becomes president.

March 1903  Cuba and the United States ratify a treaty on commercial reciprocity, ensuring U.S. control of Cuban markets.

May 22, 1903  Cuba and the United States sign the "Permanent Treaty" which incorporates the Platt Amendment.

July 2, 1903  To follow up the Platt Amendment provision for selling or leasing coaling and naval bases to the United States, Cuba signs a treaty with the United States agreeing to lease Bahía Honda and Guantánamo.  This prepares the way for construction of a U.S. naval base at Guantánamo, a deep-water port in eastern Cuba.  The price of the lease for Guantánamo is set at $2000 a year in gold."