Guantánamo << gwahn TAH nuh `moh` >> is a city in southern Cuba . The municipality of Guantánamo has a population of 228,436. A municipality may include rural areas as well as the urban center. The city lies about 10 miles (16 kilometers) inland from Guantánamo Bay, the site of a United States naval base. Guantánamo is a major sugar-refining center. It also serves as a processing and trading center for cacao, coffee, and corn from southern Cuba.
In 1903, Cuba leased Guantánamo Bay to the United States for $2,000 a year. The two nations signed a treaty giving the United States the right to establish a naval base on the bay. This treaty was renewed in 1934. It can be canceled only by mutual agreement or by voluntary U.S. withdrawal. In 1962, the Cuban leader Fidel Castro accused the United States of territorial interference. He demanded that the United States give up the naval base immediately. President John F. Kennedy refused and sent Marines to protect the base. The Cuban government then stopped cashing the annual checks that the United States sent for payment of the lease. The Cuban government insisted that the U.S. presence at Guantánamo Bay was illegal. During the 1990’s, thousands of refugees fleeing from Haiti and Cuba were temporarily housed at the U.S. base at Guantánamo Bay.
In 2002, the United States began holding suspected terrorists at a Guantánamo Bay detention facility at the naval base. Hundreds of people have been imprisoned there. Officials accused many of them of supporting al-Qa`ida , the group behind the September 11 terrorist attacks , or the Taliban , an Islamic political group.
