Guantanamo Bay Naval Base

United States Naval Station Guantanamo Bay
Guantánamo Bay, Cuba
Aerial view of McCalla Field, Guantanamo Bay (looking north-east)
Type	Military base
Site information
Controlled by	United States Navy
Site history
Built	1898
In use	1898–present
Battles/wars	Battle of Guantánamo Bay
Garrison information
Current commander	Captain David Culpepper, USN

Coordinates: 19°54′N 75°9′W / 19.900°N 75.150°W / 19.900; -75.150

Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, also known as Naval Station Guantanamo Bay or NSGB, (also called GTMO because of the airfield designation code or Gitmo because of the common pronunciation of this code by the U.S. military) is a United States military base located on 45 square miles (120 km²) of land and water at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, which the US leased for use as a coaling and naval station in 1903 (for $2,000 per year until 1934, when it was increased to $4,085 per year). The base is on the shore of Guantánamo Bay at the southeastern end of Cuba. It is the oldest overseas U.S. Naval Base. Since the Cuban Revolution of 1959, the Cuban government has consistently protested against the U.S. presence on Cuban soil and called it illegal under international law, alleging that the base was imposed on Cuba by force. At the United Nations Human Rights Council in 2013, Cuba's Foreign Minister demanded the U.S. return the base and the "usurped territory", which the Cuban government considers to be occupied since the U.S. invasion of Cuba during the Spanish–American War in 1898.

Since 2002, the naval base has contained a military prison, the Guantanamo Bay detention camp, for unlawful combatants captured in Afghanistan, Iraq, and other places during the War on Terror. Cases of torture of prisoners, and their alleged denial of protection under the Geneva Conventions, have been condemned internationally.