F r o m   o u r   m a i l b a g

Havana. October 15, 2003

I have a debt to some of our readers who requested information about the terms of the U.S. occupation of the Guantánamo Naval Base, a polemic that has lasted to the present day, and of which I promised to write a week ago.

As a condition for the withdrawal of the U.S. army from Cuba following the end of the Spanish-Cuban-U.S War and the island’s supposed pacification, in 1901 the U.S. government imposed the so-called Platt Amendment on the text of our first constitution; a constitution that gave birth to a pseudo-Republic.

As a consequence of that amendment, there was no government by Cubans or a republic, and therefore we were to continue under the sovereignty of our northern neighbors. The Platt Amendment was an appendix that the members of the committee who edited the constitution were forced to accept.

The clause - or article VII of the amendment - that laid down Washington’s right to militarily intervene in Cuba if its judged it necessary, and which the Cuban people strongly (although unsuccessfully) rebelled against, also established that in order for the United States to maintain an independent Cuba and protect the people of the nation as well as for its own defense, the Cuban government would sell or lease the necessary land to the United States for naval coal heaps or stations at particular points that were agreed on by the U.S. president.

To put an end to any doubt that could have arisen Article VIII stated that the Cuban government was to include the previous regulations of the permanent treaty with the United States.

After several attempts to change it, the Cubans were advised by Governor Wood that as the Amendment was as a statute passed by the legislative power of the United States the president was therefore obliged to execute it as such. Therefore, it could not be changed, modified, added to or removed.

It was in this way that under the first Cuban government - that of Estrada Palma - a reciprocal treaty was signed regarding permanent relations and the Platt Amendment accords covering the concession of land for U.S. naval coal stations and bases.

On signing this treaty, it was clear that the Republic of Cuba was leasing this land for the length of time that the United States needed it. In 1934, a new relations treaty with the United States was signed that ratified its presence at the Guantánamo Base and repealed other accords dating back to the first decade of that century.

The United States still its occupation and utilization of this land, but that history of conditions and pressure speaks of its illegality.

For the first time in the history of the republic, Cuba achieved full national sovereignty in 1959, when the Revolutionary government came to power. The only thing that remains as a memory of the realization of the desires of U.S. administrations is the naval base at Guantánamo, an issue on which Cuba has attempted to maintain goodwill in order to reach a peaceful settlement.

Cheryl N. Hall from the United States: we have received your message.

From Argentina, Omar Andrade congratulates Granma “for clarifying concepts that are difficult to understand through other media channels.”

Juan Manuel Chalup, sports producer from Canal 7 in Argentina, we can exchange information on the subject.

Rodrigo from Brazil tells us that he always visits the Granma website and congratulates us for our interesting reports.

From a New York college, Rafael Merino tells us that they have just launched an on-line magazine entitled New York Latino Journal providing national and international news and opinions that are “not sufficiently covered because of a conflict of corporate or governmental interests.”

Other young people, this time from Mexico, have written to say that they are studying Communication Sciences and would like to boost university journalism. Their website is www.perspectivas.info

Dr. Carlos Uriarte Mora from Peru congratulates Granma for its 38th anniversary on October 3.