What If Obama Just Gave Gitmo Back to Cuba?

James S. Robbins

Cuba wants Guantánamo Bay back. And if President Obama wanted to, he could just give it to them.
The White House has lately been pushing for normalizing relations with Cuba, which have been suspended since the 1959 communist revolution. President Raúl Castro said that one precondition for normalizing ties with the United States would be returning the 45 square mile U.S.-controlled territory at Guantánamo Bay. Though most noted for its terrorist detainee facility, the U.S. has maintained a naval station there for over 100 years. Last week, White House spokesman Josh Earnest rejected Castro’s demand, saying that while President Obama would like to see the prison shut down, “the naval base is not something that we wish to be closed.”



So they say. The White House also says Iran should not develop a nuclear weapon, and look how that effort is going. After a few rounds of tough negotiations with the Cubans the U.S. position on Guantánamo is certain to “evolve.”
So could Mr. Obama simply hand Gitmo back to the Cubans? It looks like he can.
The land is held under a lease concluded in two agreements in 1903, in the aftermath of the Spanish American War and Cuban independence. In the Agreement Between the United States and Cuba for the Lease of Lands for Coaling and Naval stations, the U.S. was given open-ended stewardship over the land “for the time required” to operate the naval station, “and for no other purpose.” The United States was given “complete jurisdiction and control” over the area, though recognizing “the continuance of the ultimate sovereignty of the Republic of Cuba.” Cuba now objects to the lease arrangement being negotiated under duress with a military victor, but the deal would better be described as a token of gratitude for liberating the island from Spain. After all it wasn’t Cuban troops who were charging up San Juan Hill.
The 1903 lease agreements were reconfirmed and superseded by the May 29, 1934 Treaty Between the United States of America and Cuba. Article III of the treaty said that the prior stipulations would remain in effect “until the two contracting parties agree to [their] modification or abrogation” or “so long as the United States of America shall not abandon the said naval station of Guantanamo.”
The key word is “abandon.” What if President Obama, as commander in chief, simply used his pen and his phone to order everyone out of the naval station, close up shop and hand Cuba the keys?
This would make good on the president’s first-day-in-office vow to close the Gitmo detainee facility. The 122 terrorists being held there could be parceled out to various Navy ships and kept in international waters until other arrangements could be made for them. It would also make Mr. Obama a hero in Cuba, and lead to a legacy-making resumption of relations with Havana.
Of course, Cuba would then have an opportunity to lease the naval base to Russia or China, whichever country would pay more. It would affirm American weakness and create a new strategic threat. It would make it more difficult for the United States to maintain stability and collect intelligence in the Caribbean. But that would all be the next president’s problem.