Siege of Guantanamo Bay (The Era of Relative Peace)

The Siege of Guantanamo Bay or the Battle for Guantanamo Bay was a four-month long siege carried out by Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces against the United States naval forces stationed at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base.

Guantanamo Bay is a source of dispute between the United States and the Republic of Cuba since 1903, as it was under "perpetual lease" to the U.S. after the Spanish-American War. The U.S. military still maintained its presence in the bay after the Cuban Revolution of 1959 up until the final stages of the Cold War. When Cuba joined the war as an ally of the Soviet Union, war was automatically declared with the United States. This made Guantanamo Bay credible to attack as the Cuba and the U.S. were at war, and Guantanamo Bay is a "U.S. Territory;" only a termination of the lease in peacetime would Guantanamo Bay be returned to Cuba.