Why the US has a Navy Base in a country that HATES them

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Water boarding at Guantanamo Bay sounds like a lot of fun, if you don’t know what either of those things are.

"We will only leave if we want to, which will probably never happen." "Hey, this isn't perpetual, we clearly said we'll leave if we want to."

US: "It's not about the money, it's about sending a message"

I'd love to sign a lease agreement with my landlord that says the only way I get evicted, is if I leave, or we mutually agree to terminate the lease. That seems like a fair and balanced contract between equal parties.

It is the oldest overseas US Base. There is a whole different part of the base that is across the bay from where Camp Delta is. There are two sides to the base, windward and leeward. The air station and Camp Delta are on Windward, the actual Naval base is on the other side. The Navy used Gitmo as a base for intensive training of ships. I've been there three times. The way that the treaty was written was because the Cuban government feared the US would leave. So the treaty said that if either party wants out the other has to agree. In 1999 the treaty expired and the provisions made it renew. Castro said he wanted the US gone, but he would honor the treaty as it was written.

I love your approach to clothes on Polandballs, gives them a lot of personality, as well as a historical context, since it's in this case about countries with very unchanging flags. In any case great video :)

Good video, but I wish you'd covered WHY US turned Gitmo into a prison/detention centre (it's because their own laws against mistreating prisoners would only apply to locations on US soil)

They had always hoped castro was stupid enough to try and take it back by force. This woulda been a perfect justification to retake cuba

It was sought by the US Navy as a coaling station which coal-fired navies around the world were always looking for. Once ships switched to oil, it's strategic importance became questionable.

Cubano here! Thanks to Guantanamo Bay being a thing, a favorite fact of mine about Cuba is that it technically has a Subway and McDonald's because of it! Some things I'd like to clarify: The Cuban Missile Crisis was more than just Soviet missiles in Cuba. The bigger issue was also the US having missiles in NATO member Turkey, which used to border the USSR. The USSR was concerned Cuba would shift towards China, so to get Cuba to remain in the Soviet sphere, Khruschev agreed with Fidel Castro to place missiles on the island. And some Cuban independence fighters actually WANTED to join the US as a state. That was the original intention of the star on Cuba's flag and why the colors chosen were red, white, and blue, which was designed by Cubans who lived in exile with Puerto Rican revolutionaries in NYC (the Puerto Rican flag was also designed in NYC). Of course nowadays, the star no longer represents that (now it just represents independence and freedom)

Fun fact: every single year the UN votes on a resolution to end the unnecessary and frankly inhumane embargo placed on Cuba, and every single year every country supports the resolution. Except Israel and the US

Visited GITMO twice during the early 1970’s for shakedown training after shipyard overhauls. As for restricting commercial shipping, I recall watching a Soviet freighter pass through the bay. Escorted of course.

Loving the simple paint graphics from guys like Politics with Paint and Mr Mitchell History

Interesting thing is that the justification for war with spain was also very controversial, with the USS Maine supposedly not having been blown up by the Spaniards, like the US said, but by an internal explosion or mine.

3:28 "It's complicated, we have to skip it." when the USA uses an accident of one of their ships to start a war of aggression is a very USA thing to do.

I noticed you used the eu4 (europa universalis 4) rebellion noise when rebels began, well, rebelling. I thought it was a neat detail!

Another reason for the USA's bizarre policies about Cuba is Florida. Florida has a high amount of Cuban Exiles (Little Havana in Miami). Because of Florida's oversized importance in US political due to it being the 3rd largest state and a valuable swing state due to the electoral college. Obama tried to thaw relations and in 2016 a pro-embargo Trump won Florida and won it again during 2020

In the Treaty of Paris of 1898, The Philippines and Guam were also involved. However, through deception the Filipinos thought the US was helping them gain independence from Spain only to be dragged into another war with the Americans which lead to eventual colonization by the US for the next 47 years.

I’ve always wondered this but I couldn’t seem to find info on the history of the base. Very interesting! Thank you for the video.