Washington – The Obama administration says it won’t return the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay as part of efforts to improve relations with Cuba.
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Roberta Jacobson, the top U.S. diplomat for Latin America, also says the U.S. will continue funding radio and television broadcasts opposed by the Cuban government.
Cuba has declared Guantanamo a condition for a resumption of normalized ties between the countries after a half-century of enmity. It also has long chafed at the U.S.-created Radio Marti and TV Marti.
Those issues, however, aren’t likely to stand in the way of the restoration of U.S.-Cuban diplomatic relations.
Jacobson was testifying Wednesday before the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
I think if Israel should give away half its land maybe obama should give Castro Guantanamo, Florida and Texas. And we should stop all building in the Eastern time zone until all Cubans and Mexicans get us citizenship and a free house.
They leased it, and the lease expired!
What’s the legal and ethical basis to stay there?
I thought the US is championing property rights?
If I have a lease on a property, and it expires, can I claim the right to stay there?
There is no military justification for holding on to Guantanamo. The US has given up every other Western Hemisphere military base it used to have outside the US. Let them have it back.
Honestly, it is hard to see how a base in Cuba is important in any way. We closed down Homestead Air Force Base in Florida because it was no longer needed. But people being people it has become a symbol that the taxpayers will be asked to support for another fifty years or so.