The San Antonio de los Baños Air Base . It was inaugurated in September 1942 , through the signing of a military agreement between the government of Cuba and the United States due to the fact that during the summer of 1942 German submarines began to operate in the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean , attacking convoys of ships that transported sugar from Cuba to the United States and food for the allied troops, that is why the North American air bases of San Antonio de los Baños and San Julián in Pinar del Río were built .
Summary
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- 1 History
- 2 Military Convention
- 3 The construction. Its consequences
- 1 Economic
- 2Social
- 4 Sources
History
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In 1939 World War II began . During the summer of 1942 , German submarines began to operate in the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean , attacking the convoys of ships that transported sugar from Cuba to the United States and food for the allied troops, which is why the US air bases in San Antonio were built. de los Baños (of the army) and San Julián in Pinar del Río (of the navy), which served as a point of support in this warlike event, fundamentally in the area of the Caribbean and Central American countries .
military convention
A military agreement was signed between the government of Cuba and the United States approved on June 19 , 1942 . For this Cuba would provide facilities to install in the territory of San Antonio de los Baños a Special Training Center for aviation personnel and war operations against enemy submarines in a place near Havana . At the end of the War this Center would pass to the service of the Cuban Air Forces.
The construction. Its consequences
The Air Base was inaugurated in September 1942 . Douglas B-26 and Boeing B-29 transport planes and bombers operated here , which carried out training in the Caribbean , no plane that was part of the Cuban aviation could land at the Military Base without prior authorization from the authorities of the same. .
The construction of this Military Base would bring important consequences for San Antonio.
Economic
From the economic point of view, it provided a source of employment in the construction stage; especially in social life, a large amount of labor, fundamentally on the other hand the businesses had an increase in their operations, some streets and highways were fixed but at the same time numerous bars, cabarets and brothels appeared, sad memories of that time, where gambling and prostitution had a wide space as well as the use of drugs, especially marijuana.
Social
During this period there was a population growth and the emergence of new neighborhoods. At the end of 1943 the Almagro neighborhood was expanded and later in 1948 the Alturas del Ariguanabo neighborhood. At the end of World War II , the Air Base was requested to pass into national hands. This event took place in an official ceremony on May 20, 1946 , attended by high-ranking personalities from both governments, including the then President of the Republic, Ramón Grau San Martín .
Notwithstanding the delivery by the United States of the Base to the Cuban State, for its use and control, it continued to respond to the interests of Imperialism, which maintained its permanent military presence and interference in all the decisions that were adopted on its use.
The Air Base did not have a purely national character until the triumph of the Revolution when it passed to the administration of the Revolutionary Government.