Agreement of Cuba

The thaw continued in the following years. The Obama administration has further eased restrictions on remittances and travel, as well as on trade, telecommunications, and financial services. It also removed Cuba`s designation as a sponsor of terrorism, a major obstacle to normalization. Both governments reopened their embassies, an initiative that met with broad public support in both countries, and negotiated a flood of bilateral agreements [PDF]. A statement by Cuba that it has condemned, rejected or revoked the basic Guantánamo agreements would be legally ineffective. These agreements must be maintained on their terms until otherwise agreed between the United States and Cuba. An assertion of the doctrine of rebus sic stantibus (change of circumstances) as a ground for unilateral termination would not be valid. The application of the doctrine has never been confirmed by an international tribunal. The [page 740] principal authors of international law assert that the doctrine can only be applied by agreement of the parties or by decision of a court.

The United States continued to operate a naval base at Guantánamo Bay under a 1903 lease « for the time necessary for the needs of the colliery and naval stations. » The United States issues Cuba an annual check for its lease, but since the revolution, Cuba has cashed only one payment. [114] [115] The Cuban government rejects the treaty, arguing that it violates Article 52 of the 1969 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, entitled « Coercion of a State by the Threat or Use of Force. » In February 1903, the Cuban President and President Theodore Roosevelt signed an « Agreement on the Lease of Land to Cuba for Coal and Naval Stations in the United States. »1 This included a lease agreement for the Guantanamo base, the boundaries of which are described in Article I of the Agreement. Article II states: « Although the United States recognizes, on the one hand, the maintenance of the final sovereignty of the Republic of Cuba over the land and sea areas described above, the Republic of Cuba agrees that during the period [page 738] of the occupation of these territories by the United States under this Agreement, the United States shall exercise its full jurisdiction and control over and within such territories. these areas. . » The agreement did not contain an end date or termination provision. President Jimmy Carter agrees with Castro to resume limited diplomatic exchanges that will allow officials from both countries to communicate regularly. The United States is opening an interest group with a small staff in its former embassy in Havana under the auspices of the Swiss embassy. Switzerland took over US interests in Cuba in 1961. Meanwhile, Cuba is opening a rights group in Washington, D.C., under the auspices of the Czechoslovak embassy. Obama is the first sitting U.S.

president in nearly ninety years to visit the island nation. Obama meets with Raul Castro and dissidents. His trip comes a month after Cuba and the United States signed an agreement to allow commercial flights between the two countries for the first time in more than fifty years. The first passenger jet flight will take place in August, and in the coming weeks, several U.S. airlines will be flying to Cuba. Havana and Washington are implementing two agreements to address the thousands of Cubans who try to enter the United States each year. The first follows a sharp change in policy by President Bill Clinton in August 1994, who demanded that all Cubans rescued at sea be taken to the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay. It describes the conditions for Cuba`s future legal immigration to the United States and sets the number of Cubans allowed to enter the United States each year at least twenty thousand (excluding the immediate relatives of U.S. citizens). The second agreement establishes the « wet feet, dry feet » policy, in which Cubans intercepted by U.S.

authorities at sea are sent home, while those who land in the U.S. are allowed to stay after a year and seek permanent residence. The agreement also allows more than thirty thousand Cubans detained at Guantanamo Bay to enter the United States on probation. 1903 – The United States and Cuba sign three treaties. The Permanent Treaty translates the Platt Amendment into a formal contractual relationship. A second agreement, the Reciprocity Treaty, grants a 20 percent concession on Cuban agricultural products entering the U.S. market in exchange for 20 to 40 percent reductions in U.S. imports. In the third agreement, Cuba leases the Bahía Honda and Guantánamo sites to the United States. A naval base is built at Guantánamo.

If, on the one hand, the United States recognizes the maintenance of the final sovereignty of the Republic of Cuba over the land and sea areas described above, the Republic of Cuba agrees that, during the period of occupation of those territories by the United States, under the terms of this Agreement, the United States shall exercise its full jurisdiction and control over and within such territories with the right to: acquire land or other property therein for public purposes in the United States by purchasing or exercising a significant estate (under the terms agreed below by both governments) with full compensation to the owners of that domain. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez signs an agreement with Castro that allows Venezuela to send oil to Cuba at a high discount in exchange for Cuban support in the fields of education, health, science and technology. Chávez allied himself early on with Castro`s anti-American party. Shortly after taking office in February 1999, he announced a government reform of state oil giant PDVSA, then the largest foreign oil supplier to the United States. In the years that followed, Venezuela increased its oil exports to Cuba in exchange for more technical personnel from Cuba, including doctors, teachers, and other social workers. .