The Associated Press is reporting that advisers to the President-elect are saying that "one of his first duties in office will be to order the closing of the U.S. military prison at Guantánamo Bay." While it is reassuring that the President-elect is moving forward to quickly close this blight on the American conscience, he would do well to simply return it as soon as possible to its rightful owners, the Republic of Cuba. It's simply time to unwind an empire the United States should have never been acquired in the first place. Moreover, the lease of Guantánamo Bay is likely illegal under international law or at the very least the US has breached the terms of the lease thus invalidating the lease.

In 1903, shortly after Cuba achieved independence from Spain with American intervention, Theodore Roosevelt signed the deal with the new and American approved government of Cuba to lease 45 square miles at the mouth of Guantánamo Bay for 2,000 gold coins a year -- now valued at slightly more than $4,000 annually. In 1934, the United States and Cuba renegotiated the Guantánamo Bay lease, agreeing that the land would revert to Cuban control only if abandoned or by mutual consent. The U.S. government continues to pay the lease every year, but the Cuban government refuses to cash the cheques. As recently as February of last year Cuba demanded the return of the base. The US simply ignores Cuba's demands.

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