News | Cuba: Evacuee Ship

BBC reporter Peter Woods is at the dockside in Norfolk, Virginia, as the Upshur, a ship carrying 1,700 evacuees, arrives. Surrounded by US Navy personnel and press, dependents of US servicemen crowd the decks, having been evacuated as a result of the missile crisis. Reportedly, Fidel Castro has demanded that the USA stops invading Cuban airspace and stockpiling arms in Florida.

The city of Guantanamo was founded in 1819 under Spanish rule. The bay is one of the largest and best sheltered in the world. The USA acquired it when Spain admitted defeat at the end of the Spanish-American War of 1898, and a US naval base was formally established in 1903. Since the revolution, the Cuban government has protested against the US presence there. The boundary is marked by barbed wire and minefields. It has been used for the detention of terrorist suspects since 2002.