Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. (April 3, 2025): Known for incarcerating the worst of the 911 defendants, “Gitmo” is also home to the Navy’s Medicine Readiness and Training Command. In this photo by Emily McCamy, Hospitalman Alex Hall, Hospitalman Jacob Riveracalvo, Hospital Corpsman 3rd Class Keyanna Glenn, and Hospitalman Ashley Mucheru practice litter-bearing during casualty evacuation training. The Navy hospital provides healthcare to the Gitmo community which includes approximately 5,000 military personnel, federal employees, contractors, and their families. 

America’s presence on this Communist island dates to 1903 where it served as a coaling station to supply warships, making it the oldest overseas U.S. naval base. The lease agreement, which has no fixed expiration date, has consistently been protested by the Cuban government which objects to the presence of U.S. forces on Cuban soil.

In 1961, the Cubans established a "Cactus Curtain", a term describing the line separating the naval base from Cuban-controlled territory. The Communists planted prickly pear cacti along a seventeen-mile fence to create a “no man’s land”. Today, this fence line is regularly patrolled by U.S. Marines who man watchtowers with motion and sound sensors to detect intruders.

In 2006, President George W. Bush announced that combatants held by the CIA would be transferred to the custody of the Department of Defense and held at Guantanamo Bay Prison. As of January 2025, fifteen detainees remain in U.S. custody at the base.

Gitmo continues to be the only base located in a Communist country with which the U.S. does not maintain diplomatic relations.