JUST ASK CUBA

During the Spanish-American War, the U.S. fleet needed shelter from the summer hurricane season; they chose Guantanamo Bay, with it’s excellent sheltered harbour, for this purpose.  It was established in 1898, when the United States obtained control of Cuba from Spain at the end of the Spanish-American War.

The U.S. government obtained a 99-year lease.  In 1934 a treaty modified the lease payment to $4,085 U.S. dollars per year; and made the lease permanent unless both governments agreed to break it.  After the Cuban Revolution of 1959, which brought Fidel Castro to power, President Eisenhower insisted the status of the base remained unchanged.

The government under Fidel Castro has cashed only one of the rent cheques from the U.S. government and only because of “confusion” in 1959 in the tumultuous early days of the leftist revolution.  The remaining un-cashed cheques made out to the “Treasurer General of the Republic” (a title that ceased to exist after the revolution) are kept in Castro’s office stuffed into a desk drawer.  The United States argues that the cashing of that single cheque signifies Havana’s ratification of the lease – and that ratification by the new government renders moot any questions about the violations of sovereignty and illegal military occupation.

Besides the obvious lesson (please don’t do a land deal with the U.S. government-Louisiana Purchase, Alaska, Manhattan…) there is another more practical lesson to be learned – namely that the terms and conditions in a lease are legally binding and what seems to be a good idea at the time can quickly become an albatross around your neck.

Get professional legal advice before entering into any lease contract; just ask Cuba they’ll tell you about it.

Have a Real Estate question?  Call me  250 537 6127 or drop into the office.

Brady Thomson – Royal Lepage Salt Spring Island

bradysthomson@gmail.com

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