Platt Amendment The Platt Amendment of 1901 was an amendment to the military appropriations bill , constrained by the earlier Teller Amendment that forbade annexation of Cuba . It dictated the conditions for the withdrawal of United States troops remaining in Cuba at the end of the Spanish - American War and defined the terms of Cuban - U . S . relations , until it was abrogated by the 1934 Treaty of Relations . The Amendment , whose clauses were incorporated into the 1903 Treaty of Relations verbatim , allowed unilateral U . S . involvement in Cuban affairs and mandated negotiation for military bases on the island including Guantanamo Bay Naval Base . Background . During the Spanish - American War , the United States maintained a large military arsenal in Cuba to protect U . S . holdings and to mediate Spanish - Cuban relations . In 1899 , the McKinley administration settled on occupation as its response to the appearance of a revolutionary government in Cuba following the end of Spanish control . In an effort to turn Cuba into a " self - governing colony " , the United States established fighters to maintain public order . American General Leonard Wood used the financial resources of the Cuban treasury to create sanitation systems . Franchisement and voting rights were extended to literate , adult , male Cubans with property worth $ 250 or more , largely resulting in exclusion of the Afro - Cuban population from participation . Conditions of the Amendment . The Platt Amendment was introduced to Congress by Senator Orville H . Platt on February 25 , 1901 . It passed the U . S . Senate by a vote of 43 to 20 . Though initially rejected by the Cuban assembly , the amendment was eventually accepted by a vote of 16 to 11 with four abstentions and integrated into the 1902 Cuban Constitution . The Platt Amendment outlined the role of the U . S . in Cuba and the Caribbean . It restricted Cuba in the conduct of foreign policy and commercial relations . It established that Cuba ' s boundaries would not include the Isle of Pines ( Isla de la Juventud ) until its title could be established in a future treaty . The amendment also demanded that Cuba sell or lease lands to the United States necessary for coaling or the development of naval stations . After U . S . President Theodore Roosevelt withdrew federal troops from the island in 1902 , Cuba signed the Cuban - American Treaty ( 1903 ) , which specified the terms of a lease of land to the United States for a coaling and naval station at Guantánamo Bay . Aftermath . Following acceptance of the amendment , the United States ratified a tariff that gave Cuban sugar preference in the U . S . market and protection to select U . S . products in the Cuban market . Tomás Estrada Palma , who had once favored outright annexation of Cuba by the United States , became president of Cuba on May 20 , 1902 . Most of the Platt Amendment provisions were repealed in 1934 when the Treaty of Relations between the U . S . and Cuba was negotiated as a part of U . S . president Franklin Roosevelt ' s " Good Neighbor policy " toward Latin America . José Manuel Cortina and other members of the Cuban Constitutional Convention of 1940 eliminated the Platt Amendment from the new Cuban constitution . The long - term lease of Guantánamo Bay continues . The Cuban government under Castro has strongly denounced the treaty as a violation of article 52 of the 1969 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties , which declares a treaty void if procured by the threat or use of force . However , article 4 of the Vienna Convention states that its provisions shall not be applied retroactively . References in Pop Culture . The Platt Amendment is incorrectly referenced as being a 1906 amendment to the United States Constitution in the 1982 film " Fast Times at Ridgemont High " . The movie also incorrectly refers to the senator originating the legislation as " John Platt " .