In a speech on the proposed rapprochement with the United States Cuban President Raul Castro says that he wants Guantanamo Bay returned to Cuban control as part of the normalization.
Now known primarily for its detention center, Guantanamo Bay was leased to the United States in 1903 as a coaling and naval station. The legality of the treaty is contested.
Castro also seeks the end of the US trade embargo on Cuba, and the removal of the nation from the terror list as part of the deal to normalize ties.
The US hasn’t offered a response to the proposal, but is unlikely to agree to return Guantanamo Bay to Cuban control, even though that control would be the most straightforward way for the Obama Administration to finally follow through on its promise to close the detention center there.
