14ymedio/EFE, Yeni García, Guantánamo, March 28, 2026 – The century-old naval base that the U.S. occupies in southeastern Cuba, against the will of Havana, is separated from the rest of the Caribbean territory by more than just barbed wire and a strip of land that could still be mined.
The territorial, ideological, and economic gap between the two countries, estranged for nearly 70 years, becomes palpable when visiting the U.S. military enclave, established in 1903, one of the oldest that the U.S. maintains outside its borders and the only one in a communist nation.
On one side, a country immersed in a humanitarian crisis worsened by the recent crude oil blockade imposed by Washington, and on the other, a small portion of about 116 square kilometers with well-stocked markets, that never turns off the lights or stops its cars for lack of fuel.
While last weekend the rest of the Caribbean country experienced its second nationwide blackout in less than seven days, on the U.S. military base daily scenes could, if one ignores the signs prohibiting photography and the uniforms and military buildings, be the same as in any neighborhood in nearby Florida.
The connections between the two cultures are scarce, but the few that a keen eye manages to identify are evident
Despite the fact that the fences at the military base welcome visitors to “Guantánamo Bay, Cuba,” it is very difficult for someone who has walked the streets of Cuba to reconcile images of old cars, smoking trash on street corners, and darkened neighborhoods with an Irish pub, a movie theater showing the latest Hollywood release, or a McDonald’s on island soil, which has been serving its famous hamburgers since 1986.
At first glance, the connections between the two cultures are scarce, but the few that a keen eye can identify are evident: an altar to Our Lady of Charity of El Cobre, Cuba’s patron saint, streets named after heroes of the independence wars, such as José Martí and Antonio Maceo, royal palms, and endemic iguanas and hutias.
At present, only a small number of Cubans remain on the base and chose to stay as special residents, now very elderly and in fragile health, out of the more than 300 who used to work here decades ago . Five years ago there was a community center with a cultural program to maintain Cuban traditions.
A small museum preserves part of the history of the controversial enclave, which has become an uncomfortable legacy for the Cuban government, which considers it “illegal” and demands its return, something the U.S. has refused, relying on a bilateral agreement from the 1930s that requires joint authorization for its return.
A mural in the gift shop shows one of the few Cuban flags that can be seen on the base, where it is also not common to hear music from the island or find a completa with congrí, roast pork, cassava with mojo, and fried plantains, but where you can get a Starbucks frappuccino or a protein smoothie after leaving the gym.
The base has been “completely self-sufficient” and has “its own sources of energy and water” that serve about 6,000 inhabitants of the base
Since Fidel Castro came to power in Cuba in 1959, the once close relationship between the two countries cooled. The late Cuban former president cut relations with the U.S. in 1961, stopped cashing the roughly $4,000 rent checks that Washington still pays for the base, and cut off the supply of water and provisions in 1964.
From that moment on, “Gitmo,” as Americans call it, has been “completely self-sufficient” and has “its own sources of energy and water” that serve about 6,000 inhabitants of the base, according to the U.S. government’s military installations directory.
Shipments of fuel and supplies arrive at the enclave, which has its own hospital and airport, and although it is more recently known for housing the alleged perpetrators of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, it continues to be one of the strategic points of the U.S. Navy in the Caribbean.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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