By war's end, the U.S. government had obtained control of all of Cuba from Spain. A perpetual lease for the area around Guant\ufffdnamo Bay was offered February 23, 1903, from Tom\ufffds Estrada Palma, an American citizen, [emphasis added for them as need a clue-by-four] who became the first President of Cuba. The Cuban-American Treaty gave, among other things, the Republic of Cuba ultimate sovereignty over Guant\ufffdnamo Bay while granting the United States "complete jurisdiction and control" of the area for coaling and naval stations.

A 1934 treaty reaffirming the lease granted Cuba and her trading partners free access through the bay, modified the lease payment from $2,000 in U.S. gold coins per year, to the 1934 equivalent value of $4,085 in U.S. dollars, and made the lease permanent unless both governments agreed to break it or the U.S. abandoned the base property.