With the recent announcement that the US will normalize relations with Cuba, we expect a lot to change. Some travel restrictions will be loosened (though not lifted altogether), and you’ll be able to take back $US100 worth of Cuban cigars and rum if you head to the US afterwards. But will Cuba start cashing the cheques that the US has been sending Cuba since 1959 to lease Guantanamo Bay?
In the 1950s Americans used Cuba as its own private playground. American fruit companies had a huge presence there, and American troops felt right at home. But after the 1959 Communist revolution the American companies were tossed out, and Cuba wanted the troops to leave as well. But Cuba and the U.S. had signed a lease for Guantanamo Bay in 1903 that was re-upped in 1934 and President Eisenhower wasn’t about to give it up.
What’s crazy is that the U.S. only pays Cubaabout $US4,085 every year to lease the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base. The current value of 2,000 gold coins.
Image: Watchtower security teams at Camp X-Ray man positions during a rehearsal for handling incoming detainees January 11, 2002 in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba via Getty