JACK'S BLOG
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CUBA SITS ASTRIDE the shipping lanes to and from the Panama Canal. Hostile forces, or pirates, based at Guantanamo Bay could easily disrupt these strategic routes. Although the canal was not completed until 1914, twelve years following Cuban independence, the United States Navy wanted a coaling station and a base there to insure that they could properly defend the region. Coal fueled ships in the early Twentieth Century, even warships. Bunkers had to be replenished much more frequently than oil-fueled ships that dominated the American Navy during World War II and beyond. (Nuclear fueled engines are used only on submarines and aircraft carriers, even today.) Thus, coaling stations were needed at key locations, especially strategic ones like the Caribbean sea lanes to the Panama Canal. Guantanamo was perfectly situated to support this purpose. Guantanamo Bay also is well protected against the ravages of tropical storms. The smaller classes of warships and patrol boats needed to guard littoral waters, close to shore in and around Cuba, can snuggle easily within its confines. These vessels converted to oil-fired boilers, but the station at Guantanamo was still needed by larger, capital warships that continued burning coal well into the Twentieth Century. Today's littoral warships are busy protecting the approaches to the Suez Canal where Sudanese pirates are active these days. The United States continues to occupy Guantanamo over the objections of Fidel Castro. He has argued that the lease resulted from a treaty that was imposed on the Cubans under coercion, and that such treaties are null and void under Article 52 of the Vienna Treaty on the Law of Treaties, negotiated in 1969. However, his claim fails on two counts. First, there was no coercion. The United States made no threats to gain Cuba's agreement. Secondly, the Vienna Treaty explicitly precludes its application retroactively.
Thus, the United States makes its lease payment to Cuba every year by check and Castro refuses to cash them.
2 Comments
11/9/2012 12:32:39 am
Now there is some fascinating information on Cuba. I knew Gitmo was important, but it never dawned on me that Guantanamo could be a major base for hostile forces and Pirate. On our last cruise, we did come within sight of Cuba and would have been easy prey. Nor did I know that Castro refuses to cash our checks. Good stuff, Jack.
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Jack Durish
11/9/2012 01:04:00 am
History really is relevant. Everything we do today connects to the past, present, and future. How many of the mistakes that we made in Iraq and Afghanistan could have been avoided if we only remembered our mistakes in Cuba?
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