Guantanamo Bay in U.S. control over 100 years

GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba (CNN) -- Officially, it is called the U.S. Naval Station, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

To those who live here, though, this 45-square-mile U.S.-controlled territory on Cuba's eastern tip is "Gitmo."

VIDEO CNN's Mark Potter looks at the history of the U.S. Naval Station at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and its latest role in housing al Qaeda and Taliban prisoners (January 10) Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)   MORE STORIES • Afghan detainee flights won't be nonstop  • Top al Qaeda leader held aboard U.S. warship  • Myers: Intelligence might have thwarted attacks    EXTRA INFORMATION • U.S. Naval Station, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba  • Map of Guantanamo

Separated from the rest of the communist island by miles of razor-wire fence, Cuban minefields and guards in towers armed with machine guns, Gitmo is a throwback to the Cold War -- although tensions have eased over the years.

"We needed bases for the U.S. Navy in the Caribbean," said Jaime Suchlicki, a professor of Cuba-Mexico relations at the University of Miami. "The Caribbean being the underbelly of the United States, it was strategically important to the United States."

Guantanamo Bay was taken over by U.S. Marines in 1898, during the Spanish-American War.

In 1903, a newly independent Cuba leased it to the United States for an annual fee of $2,000 in gold.

A 1934 treaty reinforced the lease agreement and allowed the United States to stay as long as it wished.

Following the Cuban Revolution of 1959, and Fidel Castro's takeover of the country, tensions rose at Guantanamo Bay, first with the U.S.-backed Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961 and then with the Cuban missile crisis of 1962 between the United States and the Soviet Union.

Such tensions led U.S. forces to increase security measures. In 1964, Castro shut off water to Guantanamo. The United States had to ship drinking water in until it could build a desalinization plant.

In 1991, a coup in nearby Haiti sent refugees flooding toward the United States. About 10,000 refugees picked up before reaching U.S. soil were held at Guantanamo.

After huge boatlifts from Haiti and Cuba in 1994, more than 60,000 refugees were detained at Guantanamo behind wire fences, where frustrations often ran high.

Guantanamo was considered as a destination for about 20,000 Kosovo refugees in 1999, but the plans were never carried out.

The Taliban and al Qaeda prisoners may be the most dangerous detainee mission yet for the U.S. military personnel on Gitmo.

"Obviously, any time you have detainees who will sacrifice their life to kill you or what you stand for, I mean, that's the most dangerous type of individual you can have in your control," Air Force Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said at a Pentagon briefing.

The first arrivals will be locked up in small cubicles surrounded by chain-link fence. Security officials described the cubicles as "outdoor cells"; they look more like cages.

"Our job is to take these terrorists out of the fight by locking them up. We will treat them humanely in accordance with international law," said Marine Brig. Gen. Mike Lehnert who is in charge of the mission.

Plans call for the temporary camp to be replaced with a permanent building. The facility is to ultimately hold 2,000 detainees.