In Washington, on 2 March 1904, U.S. Secretary of State John Hay and Cuban Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary Gonzalo de Quesada sign the Treaty for the adjustment of title to the ownership of the Isle of Pines, in the Caribbean Sea near southwestern Cuba. The instrument gives effect to Article VI of the Act of Congress of 2 March 1901 (the Platt Amendment), incorporated in the Appendix to Cuba’s Constitution of 20 May 1902, which left title to the island to “future adjustment by treaty.”

Article I provides that the United States relinquishes in favor of the Republic of Cuba all claim of title to the Isle of Pines that has been or may be made under Articles I and II of the Treaty of Peace between the United States and Spain signed at Paris on 10 December 1898. Article II states that this relinquishment is in consideration of the grants of coaling and naval stations in the Island of Cuba heretofore made to the United States by the Republic of Cuba.

Article III protects U.S. citizens who, at the exchange of ratifications, reside or hold property in the Isle of Pines: they suffer no diminution of rights previously acquired; they may remain or remove, retaining property rights including the right to sell; and they may carry on industry, commerce and professions subject to laws applicable to other foreigners. Article IV requires ratification in conformity with each country’s constitution and exchange of ratifications in Washington as soon as possible.

The treaty is done in duplicate in English and Spanish. An earlier 2 July 1903 package linking Guantánamo leases to recognition of Cuban sovereignty over the Isle of Pines was not acted on in time by the U.S. Senate; the 1904 version omitted a ratification deadline. For years the Senate delayed, amid pressure from American investors on the island.

In 1907 the U.S. Supreme Court in Pearcy v. Stranahan treated the Isle of Pines as foreign territory for tariff purposes without finally settling sovereignty. The Senate advised ratification on 13 March 1925; Cuba ratified on 18 March 1925; ratifications were exchanged at Washington on 23 March 1925; and the U.S. presidential proclamation followed on 24 March 1925. The island was later renamed Isla de la Juventud.

The Hay–Quesada Treaty of 2 March 1904 remains the instrument that settled Cuban title to the Isle of Pines in connection with the naval-station grants already made to the United States.

Image: landscape, Isle of Pines; public domain / Wikimedia Commons. Cropped to 16:9.

Source consulted: Hay–Quesada Treaty. Treaty text: Treaty Between the United States of America and Cuba, Signed at Washington, March 2, 1904 (FRUS).