АҚШ Әскери-теңіз күштерінің Гуантанамо базасы

Military base of the United States Navy

Guantanamo Bay Naval Base (lang es), officially known as Naval Station Guantanamo Bay or NSGB, (also called GTMO, pronounced Gitmo '/g//ɪ//t//m//oʊ/ GITmoh as jargon by members of the U. S. military) is a United States military base located on 45 square miles (117 km2) of land and water on the shore of Guantánamo Bay at the southeastern end of Cuba. It has been leased to the United States with no end date since 1903 as a coaling station and naval base, making it the oldest overseas U. S. naval base. The lease was $2,000 in gold per year until 1934, when the payment was set to match the value of gold in dollars; in 1974, the yearly lease was set to $4,085. Since taking power in 1959, the Cuban communist government has consistently protested against the U. S. presence on Cuban soil, arguing that the base "was imposed on Cuba by force" and is "illegal under international law." Since 2002, the naval base has contained a military prison, for alleged unlawful combatants captured in Afghanistan, Iraq, and other places during the War on Terror. Cases of alleged torture of prisoners by the U. S. military, and their denial of protection under the Geneva Conventions, have been criticized. The 1903 lease has no fixed expiration date; as such, it can only be ended if the US Navy decided to abandon the area or both countries agreed mutually to end the lease.

The Naval Base occupies three main geographical sections: Leeward Point, Windward Point, and Guantánamo Bay. Guantánamo Bay physically divides the Naval Station into sections. The bay extends past the boundaries of the base into Cuba, where the bay is then referred to as Bahía de Guantánamo. Guantánamo Bay contains several cays, which are identified as Hospital Cay, Medico Cay, North Toro Cay, and South Toro Cay. Leeward Point of the Naval Station is the site of the active airfield. Major geographical features on Leeward Point include Mohomilla Bay and the Guantánamo River. Three beaches exist on the Leeward side. Two are available for use by base residents, while the third, Hicacal Beach, is closed. Windward Point contains most of the activities at the Naval Station. There are nine beaches available to base personnel. The highest point on the base is John Paul Jones Hill (named after the Revolutionary War hero of the same name) at a total of 495 feet (151 m). The geography of Windward Point is such that there are many coves and peninsulas along the bay shoreline providing ideal areas for mooring ships. According to Stephen Benz, Stephen Crane described the area as "craggy" and "cut with ravines." On 30 April 1494, Christopher Columbus, on his second voyage, arrived and spent the night. The place where Columbus landed is now known as Fisherman's Point. Columbus declared the bay Puerto Grande. The bay and surrounding areas briefly came under British control during the War of Jenkins' Ear. Prior to the outbreak of the conflict, the bay was referred to as Walthenham Harbor by British cartographers. The British expeditionary force renamed the bay Cumberland Bay. They eventually retreated from the area after an attempt to march to Santiago de Cuba was repulsed by Spanish troops. secured Guantánamo's harbor for protection during the hurricane season of 1898. The Marines landed at Guantanamo Bay with naval support, and American and Cuban forces routed the defending Spanish troops. There is a monument on McCalla Hill to one Navy officer and five Marines who died in battle at Guantanamo Bay. The war ended with the Treaty of Paris of 1898, in which Spain formally relinquished control of Cuba. Although the war was over, the United States maintained a strong military presence on the island. In 1901 the United States government passed the Platt Amendment as part of an Army Appropriations Bill. Section VII of this amendment read

That to enable the United States to maintain the independence of Cuba, and to protect 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 President of the United States.|source=

After initial resistance by the Cuban Constitutional Convention, the Platt Amendment was incorporated into the Constitution of the Republic of Cuba in 1901. The Constitution took effect in 1902, and land for a naval base at Guantanamo Bay was granted to the United States the following year.

The Naval Base became a prime area for winter training for the Atlantic fleet. Due to the large increase in population during the training months, the Naval Base quickly established facilities to support everyday functions. Guantanamo Bay fleet range system began its construction as early as 1905 under Captain Rogers. Four primary ranges were built during its construction: Range Alpha, Range Beta, Range Charlie, and Range Delta. Due to the size of the base, sections were shut down in order for range operations to proceed. Ironically, the concrete range system's size and cost led to its downfall. Strong evidence suggests the fleet ranges were used throughout World War I and the beginning of World War II. During World War II, the base was set up to use a nondescript number for postal operations. The base used the Fleet Post Office, Atlantic, in New York City, with the address: 115 FPO NY. The base was also an important intermediate distribution point for merchant shipping convoys from New York City and Key West, Florida, to the Panama Canal and the islands of Puerto Rico, Jamaica, and Trinidad and Tobago.

From 1953 to 1959, thousands of Cubans commuted daily from outside the base to jobs within it. In mid 1958, vehicular traffic was stopped; workers were required to walk through the base's several gates. Public Works Center buses were pressed into service almost overnight to carry the tides of workers to and from the gate. The "Cactus Curtain" is a term describing the line separating the naval base from Cuban controlled territory, the Bamboo Curtain in East Asia, and the similar Ice Curtain in the Bering Strait. After the Cuban Revolution, some Cubans sought refuge on the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base. In late 1961, Cuban troops planted an 8 mile (13 km) long, 10 feet (3 m) wide

The curtain forms part of a "no man's land" that encircles the base. During the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, the families of military personnel were evacuated from the base. Notified of the evacuation on 22 October, evacuees were told to pack one suitcase per family member, to bring evacuation and immunization cards, to tie pets in the yard, to leave the keys to the house on the dining table, and to wait in front of the house for buses. Dependents travelled to the airfield for flights to the United States, or to ports for passage aboard evacuation ships. After the crisis was resolved, family members were allowed to return to the base in December 1962. From 1939, the base's water was supplied by pipelines that drew water from the Yateras River about 4.5 mile (7 km) northeast of the base. The U. S. government paid a fee for this; in 1964, it was about $14,000 a month for about per day. In 1964, the Cuban government stopped the flow. The base had about of water in storage, and strict water conservation was put into effect immediately. The U. S. first imported water from Jamaica by barge, then relocated a desalination plant from San Diego (Point Loma). When the Cuban government accused the United States of "stealing water", base commander John D. Bulkeley ordered that the pipelines be cut and a section removed. A length of the diameter pipe and a length of the diameter pipe were lifted from the ground and the openings sealed. During the 1960s and 1970s, the base had problems with alcohol and racial tension. Harassment and strip searches also became a regular occurrence for Cuban workers on the base. Several old guns from the USS Monongahela (1862) have been salvaged and placed around the base. The old warship served as a storeship at Guantanamo until destroyed by fire on 17 March 1908. A gun was salvaged from her wreck and put on display at the Naval Station. Since the gun was deformed by the heat from the fire, it was nicknamed "Old Droopy". A similar gun, possibly also salvaged from the Monongahela, is on display near the Bay View Club on the Naval Station. By 2006, only two elderly Cubans, Luis Delarosa and Harry Henry, still crossed the base's North East Gate daily to work on the base, because the Cuban government prohibited new recruitment since 1959. They both retired at the end of 2012. At the United Nations Human Rights Council in 2013, Cuba's Foreign Minister demanded the U. S. return the base.

The military facility has over 8,500 U. S. sailors and Marines stationed there. It is the only military base the U. S. maintains in a socialist country. In 2005, the U. S. Navy completed a $12 million wind power project at the base, erecting four 950 kilowatt, 275 feet (84 m) wind turbines, reducing the reliance on diesel fuel to power the existing diesel generators (the base's primary electricity generation). In 2006, the wind turbines reduced diesel fuel consumption by annually.

Ocean transportation is provided by Schuyler Line Navigation Company, a U. S. Flag Ocean Carrier. Schuyler Line operates under government contract to supply sustainment and building supplies to the base.

There are two airfields within the base, Leeward Point Field and McCalla Field. Leeward Point Field is the active military airfield, with the ICAO code MUGM and IATA code NBW. McCalla Field was designated as the auxiliary landing field in 1970, but was no longer a viable airfield by the 1990s. the runway was extended in 1953 to 8,000 feet to accommodate jet aircraft. Leeward Point Field has a single active runway, 10/28, measuring 8000 feet (2438 m). Naval Air Station Guantanamo Bay was officially established 1 February 1941. Aircraft routinely operating out of McCalla included JRF 5, N3N, J2F, C 1 Trader, and dirigibles. The airfield was deactivated in the 1970s and was used to house Cuban and Haitian refugees beginning in the 1990s. Sometime between 1996 and 2001, the refugee camps were dismantled and the area became a collection of abandoned buildings. McCalla Field is now listed as a closed airfield. The USN aviation assets are now located across the bay at Leeward Point Field, about 1.5 miles to the west. After the events of September 11, the area was reevaluated as a possible location for a detention facility. Therefore, the detainees have the fundamental right to due process of law under the Fifth Amendment. A district court has since held that the "Geneva Conventions applied to the Taliban detainees, but not to members of Al Qaeda terrorist organization." On 10 June 2006, the Department of Defense reported that three Guantanamo Bay detainees took their own lives. The military reported the men hanged themselves with nooses made of sheets and clothes. A study published by Seton Hall Law's Center for Policy and Research, while making no conclusions regarding what actually transpired, asserts that the military investigation failed to address significant issues detailed in that report. On 6 September 2006, President George W. Bush announced that alleged or non alleged combatants held by the CIA would be transferred to the custody of Department of Defense, and held at Guantanamo Prison. Of approximately 500 prisoners in Guantanamo Bay, only 10 have been tried by the Guantanamo military commission, but all cases have been stayed pending the adjustments being made to comply with the U. S. Supreme Court decision in Hamdi v. Rumsfeld. In January 2009, President Obama signed an executive order directing the closing of the Guantánamo detention camp within a year. This plan was thwarted for the time being on 20 May 2009, when the United States Senate voted to keep the prison at Guantanamo Bay open for the foreseeable future and forbid the transfer of any detainees to facilities in the United States. Senator Daniel Inouye, a Democrat from Hawaii and chairman of the appropriations committee, said he favored keeping Guantanamo open until Obama produced a "coherent plan for closing the prison." Consequently, Obama decided to postpone difficult decisions on the details for at least six months. On 7 March 2011, Obama issued a new executive order permitting indefinite detention of Guantánamo detainees. This decision was codified into federal law by provision added to the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012. In early February 2021, the administration of U. S. President Joe Biden declared his intention to shut down the facility before he leaves office. In July 2021, an additional detainee was released. In June 2022, an Afghan prisoner held at Guantanamo Bay for about 15 years without trial was released. In February 2023, three prisoners were released from Guantanamo Bay. Majid Khan, who pled guilty before a Military Commission in 2012, had completed his sentence of 10 years, and was released to Belize. Brothers Abdul Al Rahim Ghulam Rabbani and Mohammed Ahmad Ghulam Rabbani, whose detentions were deemed no longer necessary in order to protect the United States from a national security threat, were released and repatriated to the government of Pakistan. In March 2023, Ghassan al Sharbi was released to his home country of Saudi Arabia from Guantanamo Bay, after being deemed no longer necessary to detain in order to protect the United States from a national security threat. In June 2023, United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and Counter Terrorism Fionnuala Ní Aoláin released her final report on the detention center. The report concludes that prisoners endure "ongoing cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment" and that the detention center should be closed.

Despite the prohibition on the establishment of "commercial or other enterprises" as stated in Article 3 of the second part of the lease, several recognized American food outlets have been opened at the military base. Most of the restaurants on the installation are franchises which are owned and operated by the Department of the Navy. Proceeds from these restaurants are used to support Morale, Welfare and Recreation (MWR) activities for service personnel and their families. These restaurants are located inside the base; as such, they are not accessible to Cubans. A Baskin Robbins ice cream stand, which opened in the 1980s, was one of the first business franchises allowed on the base. In early 1986, the base added the first and only McDonald's restaurant within Cuba. A Hooters restaurant was opened in 1987 and closed in 1994 when the Navy Department refused to renew the lease. A Subway restaurant was opened in 2002. In 2004, a combined KFC and A&W restaurant was opened at the bowling alley and a Pizza Hut Express was added to the Windjammer Restaurant. There is also a cafe that sells Starbucks coffee, and there is a combined KFC and Taco Bell restaurant.

Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) provides for the education of dependent personnel with two schools. Both schools are named for Rear Admiral William Thomas Sampson. W. T. Sampson Elementary School serves grades K–5 and W. T. Sampson High School serves grades 6–12. The Villamar Child Development Center provides child care for dependents from six weeks to five years old. MWR operates a Youth Center that provides activities for dependents. Some former students of Guantánamo have shared stories of their experiences with the Guantánamo Public Memory Project. The 2013 documentary Guantanamo Circus directed by Christina Linhardt and Michael Rose reveals a glimpse of day to day life on GTMO as seen through the eyes of circus performers who visit the base. It is used as a reference by the Guantánamo Public Memory Project.