Following the conclusion of the War of Cuban Independence the United States Navy occupied the island.  After assessing the value of continued presence in Cuba to meet American commercial and military interests, the U.S. Secretary of War drafted a set of articles to function as guidelines for future U.S.-Cuba relations. On March 2, 1901, Congress adopted these articles, known as the Platt Amendment.  The sixth article of the Platt Amendment specified, “That to enable the United States to maintain the independence of Cuba, and to protect the people thereof, as well as for its own defense, the government of Cuba will sell or lease to the United States lands necessary for coaling or naval stations at certain specified points to be agreed upon with the President of the United States.”  The United States agreed to withdraw from Cuba only if the provisions of the Platt Amendment were added to the new Cuban constitution. Although many Cubans protested, the constitutional convention adopted the Platt Amendment under pressure from the U.S.  The Platt Amendment was revised in Treaty of 1934, which stated that, “so long as the United States of America shall not abandon the said naval station of Guantánamo or the two Governments shall not agree to a modification of its present limits, the station shall continue to have the territorial area that it now has.”  Under this treaty, Cuban action alone cannot terminate the lease.The U.S. government continues to send the Cuban government an annual check of $4,085 in accordance with the terms of the lease.  However, since the rise of Fidel Castro, the Cuban government has refrained from cashing the checks in protest of an undesired American presence in Cuba.