text: In February 1903, the United States leased 45 square miles of land and water at Guantanamo Bay for use as a coaling (fueling) station.  The treaty was finalized and the document  was ratified by both governments and signed in Havana in December of that same year.   \n\nA 1934 treaty reaffirming the lease granted Cuba and her trading partners free access through the bay, modified the lease payment from $2,000 in gold coins per year, to the 1934 equivalent value of $4,085 U.S. Treasury dollars, and added a requirement that termination of the lease requires the consent of both the U.S. and Cuba governments, or the abandonment of the base property by the U.S.