3 B
TUESDAY. OCTOBER 23. 1962
MEDFOHD MAIL TRIBUNE. MEDFORD. OREGON
Cuba lopes To Get United States Out of Guantanamo By Legal Eeans
guantAnamo "
Editor's note; For mote
than half a century U.S. war
hipi have iwepl proudly in
and out oi Guantanamo bay,
helpina to auarantee the free
dom of both Cuba and the
United States. Now Fidel Ca
tro has vowed a legal battle
to throw thit country off the
bate. The following diipatch
telle why U.S. officiali are
confident he will fail.
By NORMAN RUNNION
Washington -IUPH- Once
again, Cuba has staked out a
claim' for the big US. naval
base at Guantanamo bay.
And once again, the Cubans
hie said they will gel the
United States out by legal
means.
It has happened before arid
undoubtedly will happen
again. Whenever U.S.-Cuban
relations heat up towards the
boiling point, as they have In
recent weeks, Guantanamo in
variably comes to the fore
The latest demand for "Git
mo" was made in a communi
que Issued last Wednesday af
ter the Havana visit of Alger
ian Premier Ahmed Ben Bel
la. It said both he and Fidel
Castro had agreed on "the im
mediate need for the evacua
tion of troops and the disman
tling of foreign military bases
in other countries, including
the naval base al Guantana
mo." Earlier in the month, on
Oct. 8, Cuban President Os
valdo Dorticos presented a
claim to the United, Nations
general assembly.
"We have stated more than
once and we repeat nur right
to recover that territory," he
said. "That region was torn
from us following an Ameri
can incursion."
'In Due Time'
Cuba, he said, would exer
cise Its right in due time, but
"shall not do so by means of
armed force. We shall exercise
that right when we deem it
appropriate, through the pro
cedural channels of interna'
tional law and before the in.
ternational bodies competent
to deal with such a claim
In the past, Premier Fidel
Castro has said these "proce
dural channels" would be the
International Court al The
Hague. The strategy would be
to try to overthrow the treat
ies under which Cuba orig
inally granted the base to the
United States.
Guantanamo bay, a 28-00(1-acre
enclave on the southeast
ern lip of Cuba, has been U.S.
property since 1003. On three
sides it is surrounded by Cu
ban territory. In the distance
loom the Sierra Maestra
mountains where Castro
launched his career as a guer
illa fighter.
The south side is the water,
a fine natural harbor.
In the words of the Defense
department, this oldest of all
U.S. overseas naval bases
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I I ' UAttfANAMO j ' J
CASTRO VOWS LEGAL BATTLE For more than a half
a century U.S. warships have swept proudly in and out of
Guantanamo Bay. Now Fidel Castro has vowed a legal
battle to throw this country off the base. An accompanying
dispatch by UPI's Norman Runnion tells why U. S. of
ficials are confident Castro will fail. (UP!)
"provides an excellent base
in support of essential fleet
operational training."
Best Training Area
Excellent year-round cli
mate, uncongested sea and air
space and close proximity to
the United States ail combine
to provide a training area
which has no equal in the At
lantic. For this reason the ma
jority of the Atlantic fleet
ships visit Guantanamo annu
ally for shakedown or refresh
er training.
The United Stales has no in
tention of surrendering Guan
tanamo. It has given the base
enough firepower to ward off
any military threat. Rein
forcements are being landed
in support of President Ken
nedy's blocade of Cuba, or
dered Monday.
Furthermore. 11 is confident
Castro has no legal' case.
The "incursion" cited' by
Dorticos was the Spanish
American war, fought on Cu
ban soil. American public
opinion, aroused by the sink
ing of the battleship Maine in
Havana harbor ("Remember
the Maine") demanded the
campaign which liberated the
island.
The Spaniards, under the
treaty of Paris signed on Dec.
10, 1898, relinquished Cuba lo
U.S. control.
Bui Ihcre was no desire lo
make the island part of the
. ' , "J
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United States. The so-called
Teller Amendment, passed by
Congress on April 19, 1898,
promised to leave the govern
ment in the hands of the Cu
ban people.
Interim Occupation
There was an interim Amer
ican occupation, however. The
military governor was Gen.
Leonard Wood, who had
fought in the war. He was
authorized to have the Cubans
meet in convention and draw
up a constitution.
The assembly opened Nov.
5, 1900. Ultimately it adopted
a constitution patterned after
this country s. But the stick
ler, from the U. S. viewpoint,
was that it contained no pro
vision for continuing future
relations with the United
Stales.
Wood was authorized to tell
the convention that America's
withdrawal of control in the
island was conditional on the
adoption of such a provision.
The end result was the
"Piatt Amendment." Added to
the Army money bill of March
2, 1901, the amendment was
named for Connecticut Sen.
Orville H. Piatt. Actually the
author was Elihu Root, the
secretary of war.
Viewed from today's van
tage point, when "colonial
ism" is. a nasty word, the
amendment contained some
bald provisions. One section
gave the United States au
thority to intervene in Cuba
to preserve the country's in
dependence and maintain law
and order.
The "Guantanamo" section
said: "To enable the United
States to maintain the inde
pendence of Cuba, and to pro
tect the people thereof, as
well as for its own defense,
the government of Cuba will
sell or lease to the United
States lands necessary for
coaling or naval stations at
certain specified points to be
agreed upon with the Presi
dent of the United States." ,
Familiar Territory
Guantanamo already was
familiar territory. During the
Spanish-American War, the
bay was seized by 100 Ma
rines to provide a base for
the U. S. Navy, which was
blockading the Spanish Fleet
in Santiago Harbor 40 miles
away. The Marines establish
ed a camp there Camp Mc-Calla-and
engaged in the first
U. S. fighting on Cuban soil
to ward off attacking Span
ish troops.
The Piatt Amendment was
duly incorporated in the Cu
ban constitution. On May 20,
1902, the United States turned
over control of the island to
the Cubans. Tomas Estrada
Palma became the first pres
ident of the new republic.
A year later, the Piatt
Amendment was incorporated
in a U.S. Cuban treaty of re
lations, signed on May 22,
1903. A month earlier, a
lease agreement had been
signed providing U.S. right
to use Guantanamo Harbor
for a naval base.
This agreement recognized
that Cuba retained ultimate
sovereignty over the area. But
Cuba granted the United
States complete jurisdiction
and control during the time it
used the base.
In 1934, the Piatt Amend
ment was abrogated by the
United States and Cuba. This
was at the start of Franklin
D. Roosevelt's "Good Neigh
bor" policy. The objective
was to remove the language
giving the United States the
right to intervene.
Retain 'Gilmo' Section
But the section affecting
Guantanamo Bay was retain
ed in a new treaty. It said
"the stipulations of that agree
ment with regard to the nav
al station at Guantanamo shall
continue in effect" unless re
vised or abrogated by the
United States and Cuba.
Furthermore, it said: "So
long as the United States of
America shall not abandon
the said naval station at
Guantanamo or the two gov
ernments shall not agree to a
modification of its presents
limits, the station shall con
tinue' to have the territorial
area that it now has, with
the limits that it has on the
date of the signature of the
present treaty."
This, in the U.S. view, is
the key language involved
when the Castro regime
threatens to take its case to
the world court.
The 1903 lease agreements
were signed by the presidents j
of the two countries - Theo-1
dore Roosevelt for the United '
States - without being sub
mitted to the U.S. or Cuban
congress.
But the 1934 treaty was rat- j
ified in accordance with the
constitutional provisions of
both countries, the Defense ;
Department says. It adds: j
"Since this treaty reaffirm-1
ed the provisions ot tne or
iginal two lease agreements,
the question as to whether
these agreements were legal
and binding prior to 1934 is
purely academic."
Red Fishing Port
The Castro regime, while
trying to get out from under
its Guantanamo treaty obli
gations has just signed a
treaty with the Soviet Union
to build a "fishing port" in
Havana Bay.
The agreement, according
to the Soviet Tass news agen
cy, provides "Soviet techni
cal assistance to Cuba in the
construction of a port, in
cluding the building of
wharves, freezers, storage
warehouses, repair shops with
a floating dock, oil storage
facilities, a radio station and
other auxiliary installations."
Both the Cubans and the
Russians claim the port will
be headquarters for a joint
Atlantic fishing fleet. The
idea would be that Soviet
trawlers, operating in north
ern waters off the United
States, could go to Cuba rath
er than return across the At-'
lantic to their home ports.
But concern has been ex
pressed here that the facili
ties may be used to support
Soviet submarines or trawl
ers observing U.S. military
and missile operations in the
Caribbean.
Because of Guantanamo's
position, however, the Cu
bans - and the Russians -can
now watch U.S. naval man
euvers without even bother
ing to go to sea.
When the USS Enterprise,
the great nuclear - powered
aircraft carrier, conducted
its shakedown operations last
spring it cruised off the Cu
ban coast. It couid easily ba
seen from land; and one day
it was observed by a Russian
freighter.
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