The Anti‐Imperialist Geopolitical Suburb? Caimanera as Guantánamo’s Revolutionary Frontier

What is it about?

The spatialities of anti-imperial praxis are increasingly fraught with innumerable challenges that require complex epistemological considerations. This paper explores the geopolitical positioning of Caimanera, the town closest to the Guantánamo Naval Base as a counter-hegemonic project to U.S. imperialism. Referred to as the First Anti-Imperialist Trench in Cuba - the history of Caimanera is fraught with tension since the base was first established in 1903. Since the triumph of the 1959 Revolution, the base continues to be held against the will of the Cuban people. Based on archival material, landscape analysis, and visits to Caimanera in 2015, 2017 and 2019, this paper explores how a ‘geopolitical suburb’ has historically evolved through the territoriality of its governance and actions. The ‘geopolitical-suburb’ as a space of subaltern-geopolitics creatively attends to the complex task of sovereignty and boldly promulgates a movement towards peace and solidarity in the larger transnational region.

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