Location Washington, D.C. Signatories Cuba
United States | Effective June 9, 1934 | |
Signed May 29, 1934 (1934-05-29) Citations 48 Stat. 1682; TS 866; 6 Bevans 1161 | ||
The Cuban–American Treaty of Relations took effect on June 9, 1934. It abrogated the Treaty of Relations of 1903.
Contents
Background
The Platt Amendment authorized the president of the U.S. to withdraw American troops from Cuba once he secured several specific promises from Cuba by treaty. Those commitments on the part of Cuba were secured in May 1903 when Cuba and the United States signed a Treaty of Relations in which Cuba committed to:
- not permit a foreign power to obtain a naval base on the island
- not go into excessive debt
- grant the US the right to intervene in Cuba for the maintenance of (an adequate) government
- approve all prior military actions by the United States
- take measures to reduce infectious diseases
- determine sovereignty over the Isle of Pines by a later treaty
- lease lands for naval stations to the United States
The 1934 treaty
In 1934, a new Treaty of Relations replaced the 1903 Treaty of Relations. Articles IV and V of the 1903 Treaty were carried forward to the new Treaty: Cuba agreed to continue to recognize as lawful all prior military actions taken by the United States and it was agreed that the base could be quarantined in times of contagion. The lease for the Naval Station, contemplated in article VII of the 1903 Treaty, was recognized as having been agreed to and its provisions continuing.
One motivation for the 1934 Treaty of Relations was to remove the irritating provisions of the 1903 Treaty, as part of Franklin Roosevelt's Good Neighbor Policy. Provisions of the 1903 Treaty were seen to be an affront to Cuban sovereignty.