Guantanamo naval base: another blow to Cuba's sovereignity

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25 March 2021

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On March 25, 1959, the United States dealt another blow to Cuba's sovereignty by prohibiting fishing in the waters of its naval base in eastern Guantanamo.

More than 100 humble families from the town of Caimanera lost their livelihoods due to arbitrariness, and were forced to transform their way of life on Cuban soil, at the disposition of a foreign country, the Revolucion newspaper reported at the time.

Settled since 1903 by virtue of a forced agreement, the base has become, since January 1959, a permanent focus of threats and provocations against Cuba.

The residents of the above-mentioned municipality and civilians who worked at the base did not escape this, as nearly 700 people were laid off, others lost their pensions and even became victims of violence.

The list of aggression denounced by the Cuban Government includes actions such as launching flammable materials, and insults and shots fired at Cuban military watch points, as a result of which the young border guards Ramon Lopez Peña and Luis Ramirez were killed.

It also consisted of violations of jurisdictional waters and the national territory, as well as US plans for self-aggression, with the purpose of provoking a large-scale armed struggle between the two countries.

The biggest of all actions against Cuba, however, is the very existence of the base, illegal in light of international and Cuban laws, taking into account that it arose from the enforcement of an appendix imposed on the Cuban Constitution of 1901, due to pressure from Washington.