Cuba

For other uses, see Cuba (disambiguation).

Republic of Cuba República de Cuba
Flag Coat of arms of Cuba Coat of arms
Motto: Patria y Libertad  (Spanish) "Homeland and freedom" a
Anthem: La Bayamesa  ("The Bayamo Song")
Capital and largest city	Havana
Official languages	Spanish
Government	Socialist republicb
• President of the    Council of State	Fidel Castro Raúl Castro (acting)
Independence  from Spain
• Declaredc	October 10 1868
• Republic declared	May 20 1902
• Cuban Revolution	January 1 1959
• Water (%)	negligible
Population
• 2006 estimate	11,382,820 (73rd)
• 2002 census	11,177,743
GDP (PPP)	2006 estimate
• Total	$44.54 billion (2006 est.) (not ranked)
• Per capita	$3,900 (not ranked)
HDI (2004)	0.826  (50th)
Currency	Peso (CUP) Convertible peso d (CUC)
Time zone	UTC-5 (EST)
• Summer (DST)	UTC-4 ((Starts March 11; ends November 4))
Calling code	53
ISO 3166 code	CU
Internet TLD	.cu
a As shown on the obverse of the 1992 coin (Note that the Spanish word "Patria" is translated into English as either "Cradle" or "Place of Birth" or as "Fatherland.") b states that "Cuba is an independent and sovereign socialist state [Article 1]... the name of the Cuban state is Republic of Cuba [Article 2]." The usage "socialist republic" to describe the style of government of Cuba is nearly uniform, though forms of government have no universally agreed typology. For example, Atlapedia describes it as "Unitary Socialist Republic"; Encyclopedia Britannica omits the word "unitary," as do most sources. c At the start of the Ten Years' War. d From 1993 to 2004, the U.S. dollar was used in addition to the peso until the dollar was replaced by the convertible peso.

Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba (Spanish: or /re'puβlika ðe ˈkuβa/), consists of the island of Cuba (the largest and second-most populous of the Greater Antilles), the Isle of Youth and several adjacent small islands. Cuba is located in the northern Caribbean at the confluence of the Caribbean Sea, the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean. Cuba is south of the eastern United States and the Bahamas, west of the Turks and Caicos Islands and Haiti and east of Mexico. The Cayman Islands and Jamaica are to the south.

Cuba is the most populous country in the Caribbean. Its people, culture and customs draw from several sources including the aboriginal Taíno and Ciboney peoples, the period of Spanish colonialism, the introduction of African slaves, and its proximity to the United States. The island has a tropical climate that is moderated by the surrounding waters; however, the warm temperatures of the Caribbean Sea and the fact that the island of Cuba sits across the access to the Gulf of Mexico make Cuba prone to frequent hurricanes.

History

Main articles: History of Cuba and Timeline of Cuban history

Statue of Hatuey, a Taíno chieftain - Baracoa, Cuba

The recorded history of Cuba began on 28 October 1492, when Christopher Columbus sighted the island during his first voyage of discovery and claimed it for Spain. Columbus named the island Isla Juana in reference to Prince Juan, the heir apparent. The island had been inhabited by Amerindian peoples known as the Taíno and Ciboney whose ancestors had come from South America and possibly North and Central America in a complex series of migrations at least several centuries before. The Taíno were farmers and the Ciboney (also written Siboney neo-Taino nations) were both farmers and hunter-gatherers; some have suggested that copper trade was significant and mainland artifacts have been found in proximal Taino cultures.

The coast of Cuba was fully mapped by Sebastián de Ocampo in 1511, and in that year the first Spanish settlement was founded by Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar at Baracoa. Other towns, including Havana (founded in 1515), soon followed. The Spanish, as they did throughout the Americas, oppressed and enslaved the approximately 100,000 indigenous people that resisted conversion to Christianity on the island. Within a century they had all but disappeared as a distinct nation as a result of the combined effects of European introduced disease, forced labor and other mistreatment, though aspects of the region's aboriginal heritage has survived in part via the rise of a significant Mestizo population. With destruction of aboriginal society, the settlers began to exploit abducted African slaves, with more resistance to the diseases from the old world, and who soon made up a significant proportion of the inhabitants.

Colonial Cuba

Cuba was a Spanish possession for 388 years, ruled by a governor in Havana, with an economy based on plantation agriculture and the export of sugar, coffee and tobacco to Europe and later to North America. It was seized by the British in 1762, but restored to Spain the following year. The Spanish population was boosted by settlers leaving Haiti when that territory was ceded to France. As in other parts of the Spanish Empire, a small land-owning elite of Spanish-descended settlers held social and economic power, supported by a population of plebian creoles, mixed-race (Mestizo) small farmers, laborers and African-descended slaves.

In the 1820s, when the other parts of Spain’s empire in Latin America rebelled and formed independent states, Cuba remained loyal, although there was some agitation for independence. This was partly because the prosperity of the Cuban settlers depended on their export trade to Europe, partly through fears of a slave rebellion (as had happened in Haiti) if the Spanish withdrew and partly because the Cubans feared the rising power of the United States more than they disliked Spanish colonial rule.

An additional factor was the continuous migration of Spaniards to Cuba from all social strata, a demographical trend that had ceased to exist in other Spanish possessions decades before and which contributed to the slow development of a Cuban national identity.

Cuba’s proximity to the U.S. has been a powerful influence on its history. Throughout the 19th century, Southern politicians in the U.S. plotted the island’s annexation as a means of strengthening the pro-slavery forces in the U.S., and there was usually a party in Cuba which supported such a policy. In 1848, a pro-annexationist rebellion was defeated and there were several attempts by annexationist forces to invade the island from Florida. There were also regular proposals in the U.S. to buy Cuba from Spain. During the summer of 1848, President James Knox Polk quietly authorized his ambassador to Spain, Romulus Mitchell Saunders, to negotiate the purchase of Cuba and offer Spain up to $100 million, an astonishing sum of money at the time for one territory. Spain, however, refused to consider ceding one of its last possessions in the Americas.

File:Castillo del morro.jpg

Castillo de los Tres Reyes del Morro (Morro Castle (fortress), built in 1589 to guard the eastern entrance to Havana bay).

After the American Civil War apparently ended the threat of pro-slavery annexationism, agitation for Cuban independence from Spain revived, leading to a rebellion in 1868 led by Carlos Manuel de Céspedes, a wealthy lawyer landowner from Oriente province who freed his slaves, proclaimed a war and was named President of the Cuban Republic-in-arms. This resulted in a prolonged conflict known as the Ten Years' War between pro-independence forces and the Spanish Army, allied with local supporters. There was much sympathy in the U.S. for the independence cause, but the U.S. declined to intervene militarily or to even recognize the legitimacy of the Cuban government in arms, despite the fact that many European and Latin American nations had done so. In 1878, the Peace of Zanjon ended the conflict, with Spain promising greater autonomy to Cuba.

The island was exhausted after this long conflict and pro-independence agitation temporarily died down. There was also a prevalent fear that if the Spanish withdrew or if there was further civil strife, the increasingly expansionist U.S. would step in and annex the island. In 1879-1880, Cuban patriot Calixto Garcia attempted to start another war, known in Cuban history as "la guerra chiquita" (the little war) but received little support. Partly in response to U.S. pressure, slavery was abolished in 1886, although the African-descended minority remained socially and economically oppressed, despite formal civic equality granted in 1893. During this period, the rural poverty in Spain provoked by the Spanish Revolution of 1868 and its aftermath led to an even greater Spanish emigration to Cuba.

During the 1890s, pro-independence agitation revived, fueled by resentment of the restrictions imposed on Cuban trade by Spain and hostility to Spain’s increasingly oppressive and incompetent administration of Cuba. Few of the promises for economic reform made by the Spanish government in the Pact of Zanjon were kept. In April 1895, a new war was declared, led by the writer and poet José Martí who had organized the war over a ten year period while in exile in the U.S. and proclaimed Cuba an independent republic — Martí was killed at Dos Rios shortly after landing in Cuba with the eastern expeditionary force. His death immortalized him and he has become Cuba’s undisputed national hero.

The Spanish armed forces totaled about 200,000 troops against a much smaller rebel army which relied mostly on guerilla and sabotage tactics to fight battles, and the Spaniards retaliated with a campaign of suppression. General Valeriano Weyler was appointed military governor of Cuba, and as a repressive measure he herded the rural population into what he called reconcentrados, described by international observers as "fortified towns." These reconcentrados are often considered the prototype for the 20th century concentration camps. Between 200,000 and 400,000 Cuban civilians died from starvation and disease during this period in the camps. These numbers were verified by both the Red Cross and U.S. Senator (and former Secretary of War) Redfield Proctor. U.S. and European protests against Spanish conduct on the island followed..

In 1897, fearing U.S. intervention, Spain moved to a more conciliatory policy, promising home rule with an elected legislature. The rebels rejected this offer and the war for independence continued. Shortly afterwards, on 15 February 1898, the U.S. battleship Maine was mysteriously blown up in Havana harbor, killing 266 men. Forces in the U.S. favoring intervention in Cuba seized on this incident to accuse Spain of blowing up the ship (although Spain had no motive for doing so and there was no evidence of Spanish culpability). Swept along on a wave of nationalist sentiment, the U.S. Congress passed a resolution calling for intervention and President William McKinley was quick to comply.

The justification McKinley used to send Maine uninvited to Havana was a violent demonstration supporters of the Spanish status-quo had on January 12,1898. McKinley claimed it was dangerous for the 8,000 American residents in the island. Maine, was the largest Navy ship built in an American shipyard to date, arrived in Havana on January 25. People were suspicious because the most important officers were at a party on shore. There were 81 foreigners and 82 black seamen among the 22 officers and 318 enlisted killed.

An investigative commission arrived to Havana on the 21 aboard USS Mangrove where Judge Advocate Advocate of the Navy Adolf Marix reported the ship had been sunk by a mine placed underneath the ship by a diver named Pepe "Taco" Barquin. Marix reported Jose "Taco" Barquin had been offered $6,000 and was killed the day after. Another diver was killed by guards and another wounded and jailed on the night of the explosion. The one in jail (his arrest was recorded in Regla's official documents), Marix reported, was being poisoned by the authorities. According to a letter from Brigadier Freyre de Andrade, the chief planners were Garcia Corujedo ,Villasuso, Maribona and other Freemason businessmen, associated with gun runner Maximo Gomez and New York politician Astor Chandler, a friend of Theodore Roosevelt. Other authors find the matter far less definitive and the guilt far less clear.

The result was the Spanish-American War, in which U.S. forces landed in Cuba in June 1898 and quickly overcame the exhausted Spanish resistance. In August a peace treaty was signed under which Spain agreed to withdraw from Cuba. Some advocates in the U.S. supported Cuban independence, while others argued for outright annexation. As a compromise, the McKinley administration placed Cuba under a 20-year U.S. treaty. The Cuban independence movement bitterly opposed this arrangement, but unlike the Philippines, where events had followed a similar course, there was no outbreak of armed resistance.

Independence

Theodore Roosevelt, who had fought in the Spanish-American War and had some sympathies with the independence movement, succeeded McKinley as President of the United States in 1901 and abandoned the 20-year treaty proposal. Instead, the Republic of Cuba gained formal independence on 20 May 1902, with the independence leader Tomás Estrada Palma becoming the country’s first president. Under the new Cuban constitution, however, the U.S. retained the right to intervene in Cuban affairs and to supervise its finances and foreign relations. Under the Platt Amendment, Cuba also agreed to lease to the U.S. the naval base at Guantánamo Bay. Cuba today does not celebrate May 20 as their date of independence, but instead October 10, as the first declaration of independence and the day Castro and his army entered Havana, January 1, 1959, as "the triumph of the revolution".

Independent Cuba soon ran into difficulties as a result of factional disputes and corruption among the small educated elite and the failure of the government to deal with the deep social problems left behind by the Spanish. In 1906, following disputed elections to choose Estrada Palma’s successor, an armed revolt broke out and the U.S. exercised its right of intervention. The country was placed under U.S. occupation and a U.S. governor, Charles Edward Magoon, took charge for three years. Magoon's governorship in Cuba was viewed in a negative light by many Cuban historians for years thereafter, believing that much political corruption was introduced during Magoon's years as governor. In 1908 self-government was restored when José Miguel Gómez was elected President, but the U.S. retained its supervision of Cuban affairs. Despite frequent outbreaks of disorder, however, constitutional government was maintained until 1925, when Gerardo Machado y Morales, having been elected President, suspended the constitution.

File:TeatroGarciaLorca.jpg

Great Theater of Havana, Garcia Lorca

Machado was a Cuban nationalist and his regime had considerable local support despite its violent suppression of critics. During his tenure, Cubans gained greater control over their own economy and major national development projects were undertaken. His hold on power was weakened by the Great Depression, which drove down the price of Cuba’s agricultural exports and caused widespread poverty. In August 1933, elements of the Cuban army staged a coup which deposed Machado and installed Carlos Manuel de Céspedes, son of Cuba's founding father, as President. In September, however, a second coup led by Sergeant Fulgencio Batista overthrew Céspedes leading to the formation of the first Ramón Grau San Martín government. This government lasted just 100 days, but engineered radical liberal changes in Cuban society and a rejection of the Platt amendment.

In 1934, Batista and the army, who were the real center of power in Cuba, replaced Grau with Carlos Mendieta y Montefur. In 1940, Batista decided to run for President himself. The leader of the constitutional liberals Ramón Grau San Martín refused to support him, so he turned instead to the Communist Party of Cuba, which had grown in size and influence during the 1930s.

With the support of the Communist-controlled labor unions, Batista was elected President and his administration carried out major social reforms and introduced a new progressive constitution. Several members of the Communist Party held office under his administration. Batista's administration formally took Cuba into World War II as a U.S. ally, declaring war on Japan on December 9, 1941, then on Germany and Italy on December 11, 1941; Cuba, however, did not significantly participate militarily in World War II hostilities. At the end of his term in 1944, in accordance with the constitution, Batista stepped down and Ramón Grau was elected to succeed him. Grau initiated increased government spending on health, education and housing. Grau’s liberals were bitter enemies of the Communists and Batista opposed most of Grau’s program.

In 1948, Grau was succeeded by Carlos Prío Socarrás, who had been Grau's minister of labor and was particularly hated by the Communists. Prío was a less principled liberal than Grau and, under his administration, corruption increased notably. This was partly a result of the postwar revival of U.S. wealth and the consequent influx of gambling money into Havana, which became a safe haven for mafia operations. Nevertheless Prío carried out major reforms such as founding a National Bank and stabilizing the Cuban currency. The influx of North American money fueled a boom which did much to raise living standards and create a prosperous middle class in most urban areas, although the gap between rich and poor became wider and more obvious.

From Batista to Castro

Main article: Cuban Revolution

Bullet ridden truck used in the attack on the Presidential Palace in Havana by the Directorio Revolucionario and the Organizacion Autentica in 1957

The 1952 election was a three-way race. Roberto Agramonte of the Ortodoxos party led in all the polls, followed by Dr. Aurelio Hevia of the Auténtico party, and running a distant third was Batista, who was seeking a return to office. Both front runners, Agramonte and Hevia in their own camps, had decided to name Col. Ramon Barquin who was a diplomat in Washington DC to head the Cuban Armed Forces after the elections. Barquin was a top officer who commanded the respect of the professional army and had promised to eliminate corruption in the ranks. Batista feared that Barquin would oust him and his followers, and when it became apparent that Batista had little chance of winning, he staged a coup on 10 March 1952 and held power with the backing of a nationalist section of the army as a “provisional president” for the next two years. Justo Carrillo told Barquin in Washington DC on March 1952 that the inner circles knew that Batista had aimed the coup at him; they immediately began to conspire to oust Batista and restore democracy and civilian government in what was later dubbed La Conspiracion de los Puros de 1956 (Agrupacion Montecristi). In 1954, under pressure from the U.S., he agreed to elections. The Partido Auténtico put forward ex-President Grau as their candidate, but he withdrew amid allegations that Batista was rigging the elections in advance. Batista could then claim to be an elected President.

Fidel Castro directed a failed assault on the Moncada Barracks, in Santiago de Cuba, and on the smaller Carlos Manuel de Cespedes Barracks and on the Feast of Saint Ann July 26, 1953..

In April 1956, Batista had given the orders for Barquin to become General and Chief of the Army. But it was too late. Even after Barquin was informed, he decided to move forward with the coup to rescue the morale of the Armed Forces and the Cuban people. On April 4, 1956, a coup by hundreds of career officers led by Col. Barquin (then Vice Chair of the Inter-American Defense Board in Washington DC and Cuban Military Attache of Sea, Air and Land to the US) was frustrated by Rios Morejon. The coup broke the backbone of the Cuban Armed Forces. The officers were sentenced to the maximum terms allowed by Cuban Martial Law. Barquin was sentenced to solitary confinement for 8 years. La Conspiración de los Puros resulted in the imprisonment of the top commanding brass of the Armed Forces and the closing of the military academies. Barquin was the founder of La Escuela Superior de Guerra (Cuba's War College) and past director of La Escuela de Cadetes (Cuba's Military Academy - West Point). Without Barquin's officers the army's ability to combat the revolutionary insurgents was severely curtailed.

On 2 December 1956 a party of 82 badly trained revolutionaries led by Fidel Castro, landed in a yacht named Granma and tried to start an armed resistance movement in the Sierra Maestra. The yacht had come from Mexico, where Castro had been banned to, and where his army was strengthened by the cooperation of Ernesto Che Guevara who later became one of the most important people in the Cuban revolution and one of Castro's closest allies. Castro had gone to Mexico after serving only two years of a twenty year prison sentence for his part in a 1953 rebel attack on the Moncada Barracks in Santiago de Cuba.[[1]]. Castro received his pardon from Batista after being requested by the Archbishop of Santiago, Monseñor Enrique Perez Serantes and Senator Rafael Diaz-Balart, at the time Fidel Castro's brother-in-law. After the landing, Batista launched a campaign of repression against the opposition, which only served to increase support for the insurgency. With Barquin's professional officers in La Prision Modelo de Isla de Pinos in the Gulf of Mexico, the Army lacked the leadership and will to fight the insurgents.

Presidential Palace in Havana, now the Museum of the Revolution

Through 1957 and 1958, opposition to Batista grew, especially among the upper and middle classes and the students, among the hierarchy of the Catholic Church and in many rural areas. In response to Batista's plea to purchase better arms from the U.S. in order to root out the insurgents in the mountains, the United States government imposed an arms embargo on the Cuban government on March 14, 1958. By late 1958, the rebels had succeeded in breaking out of the Sierra Maestra and launched a general insurrection, joined by hundreds of students and others fleeing Batista’s crackdown on dissent in the cities. When the rebels captured Santa Clara, east of Havana, Batista decided the struggle was futile and fled the country to exile in Portugal and later Spain. Batista named Gen. Eulogio Cantillo Chief of the Army and gave him instructions not to release Barquin and his officers. Nevertheless, Barquin, who had the US support, was rescued from Isla de Pinos in the early hours and taken to Campamento Ciudad Militar Columbia where he relieved Cantillo and assumed the post of Chief of Staff (serving as Chief of the Armed Forces and de facto president of Cuba for a short period of time) in an effort to establish order in the streets and the Armed Forces. He negotiated the symbolic change of command between Camilo Cienfuegos, Che Guevara, Raul and Fidel Castro, after the Supreme Court decided that the Revolution was the source of law and its representative should assume command. With less than 300 men Camilo assumed the post from Barquin which in Columbia alone commanded 12,000 professional soldiers. Castro’s rebel forces entered the capital on January 8 1959. Short after Dr. Manuel Leo Urrutia assumed power.

Cuba following revolution

Fidel Castro became Dictator of Cuba in February 1959, and has held effective power in the country until temporarily handing it over to his brother, Raul Castro, for medical reasons in July 2006. During 1959, Castro’s military junta carried out measures such as the confiscation of private real estate, the nationalization of public utilities, and began a campaign to institute tighter controls on the private sector such as the closing down of the gambling industry. Castro also evicted many Americans, including mobsters from the island. These measures were undertaken by his government in the name of the program that he had outlined in the Manifesto of the Sierra Maestra while in the Sierra Maestra. He failed to enact the most important elements of his reform program, however, which was to call elections under the Electoral Code of 1943 within the first 18 months of his time in power and to restore all of the provisions of the Constitution of 1940 that had been suspended under Batista.

Castro flew to Washington, DC in April 1959, but was not met by President Eisenhower, who decided to attend a golf tournament rather than meet with Castro. Castro returned to Cuba after a series of meetings with African-American leaders in New York's Harlem district, and after a lecture on "Cuba and the United States" delivered at the headquarters of the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. [[2]][[3]] Summary executions of suspected Batista collaborators and members of the opposition through the "paredones" that took place after show trials, coupled with the seizure of Cuban-owned businesses and the rapid demise of the independent press, nominally attributed to the powerful pro-revolution printing unions, raised questions about the nature of the new government. Attitudes towards the Cuban revolution both in Cuba and in the United States were changing rapidly. The nationalization of private property and Cuban businesses to the tune of $25 billion U.S. dollars ) and, particularly, U.S.-owned companies (to an excess of 1960 value of US $1.0 billions ) aroused immediate hostility within the Eisenhower administration. Cubans began to leave their country in great numbers and formed a burgeoning expatriate community in Miami that was opposed to the Castro government.

The United States government became increasingly hostile towards the Castro-led government of Cuba throughout 1959. Some contend that this, in turn, may have influenced Castro's movement away from the liberal elements of his revolutionary movement and increase the power of hardline Marxist figures in the government, notably Che Guevara. This theory is open to debate and has been attacked in various publications which have argue that Castro undertook the Revolution with the goal of turning Cuba towards socialsim.

In October 1959, Castro openly declared himself to be friendly towards Communism, though he did not yet claim to be a Communist himself, while the liberal and other anti-Communist elements of the government were purged. Many who had initially supported the revolution fled the country to join the growing exile community in Miami. In March 1960, the first aid agreements were signed with the Soviet Union. In the context of the Cold War, the U.S. saw the establishment of a Soviet base of influence in the Americas as a threat and plans were approved to remove Castro from power (see The Cuban Project). In late 1960, a trade embargo was imposed, which strengthened Castro's ties with the Soviet Union. At the same time, the U.S. administration authorized plans for an invasion of Cuba by Florida-based exiles, taking advantage of anti-Castro uprisings which were repressed (see some details and references in War Against the Bandits and Bay of Pigs Invasion). The result was the disastrous Bay of Pigs Invasion of April 1961. President John F. Kennedy withdrew promised US air support for the invading force at the last minute and the populist anti-Castro uprising failed to materialize. Kennedy refused to provide direct American military intervention and the invasion force was routed. After this Castro declared Cuba a socialist republic, and himself a Marxist-Leninist in May of 1961.

Marxist-Leninist Cuba

A so-called 'yank tank', one of the many remaining U.S. cars in Cuba, imported prior to the United States embargo against Cuba.

One immediate strategic result of the Cuban-Soviet alliance was the decision to place Soviet medium range ballistic missiles (MRBMs) and intermediate range ballistic missiles (IRBMs) in Cuba, which precipitated the Cuban missile crisis of 1962, during which the John F. Kennedy administration threatened the Soviet Union with nuclear war unless the missiles were withdrawn. The idea to place missiles in Cuba was brought up either by Castro or Khrushchev, but agreed by the USSR for the reason that the U.S. had their nuclear missiles placed in Turkey the Middle East, thus directly threatening USSR security. With minutes to go until the soviet ships carrying a further shipment of missiles reached a US naval blockade, the Soviets backed down, and made an agreement with Kennedy. All the missiles were to be withdrawn from Cuba, but at the same time the US was to move its missiles from Turkey and elsewhere in the Middle East. Kennedy however couldn't lose face by doing this immediately, but made an assurance to withdraw the missiles within a couple of months.

Another result was that Kennedy agreed not to invade Cuba in the future. In the aftermath of this, there was a resumption of contacts between the U.S. and Castro, resulting in the release of the anti-Castro fighters captured at the Bay of Pigs in exchange for a package of aid. However in 1963 relations deteriorated again as Castro moved Cuba towards a fully-fledged Communist system modeled on the Soviet Union.. The U.S. imposed a complete diplomatic and commercial embargo on Cuba. At this time U.S. influence in Latin America was strong enough to make the embargo very effective and Cuba was forced to divert virtually all its trade towards the Soviet Union and its allies.

In 1965, Castro merged his revolutionary organizations with the Communist Party, of which he became First Secretary, with Blas Roca as Second Secretary; later to be succeeded by Raúl Castro, who as Defense Minister and Fidel’s closest confidant became and has remained the second most powerful figure in the government. Raúl Castro’s position was strengthened by the departure of Che Guevara to launch unsuccessful attempts at insurrectionary movements in Congo, and then Bolivia, where he was killed in 1967. Osvaldo Dorticós Torrado, President of Cuba from 1959 to 1976, was a figurehead of little importance. Castro introduced a new constitution in 1976 under which he became President himself, while remaining chairman of the Council of Ministers.

During the 1970s, Castro moved onto the world stage as a leading spokesperson for Third World “anti-imperialist” governments. On a more concrete level, he provided invaluable military assistance to pro-Soviet forces in Angola, Ethiopia, Yemen and other African and Middle Eastern trouble spots. Cuban forces were decisive in helping the MPLA forces win the Angolan Civil War in 1975. Although the bills for these expeditionary forces were paid by the Soviets, they placed a considerable strain on Cuba’s economy and manpower resources. Cuba was also hampered by its continuing dependency on sugar exports. The Soviets were forced to provide further economic assistance by buying the entire Cuban sugar crop, even though the Soviet Union grew enough sugar beet to meet its own needs. In exchange the Soviets had to supply Cuba with all its fuel, since it could not import oil from any other source.

Cuba’s economic dependence on the Soviet Union was deepened by Castro’s determination to build his vision of a socialist society in Cuba. This entailed the provision of free health care and education for the entire population. Through the 1970s and 1980s, the Soviets were prepared to subsidise all this in exchange for the strategic asset of an ally under the noses of the United States and the undoubted propaganda value of Castro’s considerable prestige in the developing world.

File:Castrotrudeau.jpg

Fidel Castro and Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau join together in song, January 1976.

By the 1970s, the ability of the U.S. to keep Cuba isolated was declining. Cuba had been expelled from the Organization of American States in 1962 and the OAS had cooperated with the U.S. trade boycott for the next decade, but, in 1975, the OAS lifted all sanctions against Cuba and both Mexico and Canada broke ranks with the U.S. by developing closer relations with Cuba. Both countries said that they hoped to foster liberalization in Cuba by allowing trade, cultural and diplomatic contacts to resume — in this they were disappointed, since there was no appreciable easing of repression against domestic opposition. Castro did stop openly supporting insurrectionary movements against Latin American governments, although pro-Castro groups continued to fight the military dictatorships which then controlled most Latin American countries.

The Cuban exile community in the U.S. grew in size, wealth and power and politicized elements effectively opposed liberalization of U.S. policy towards Cuba. However, the efforts of the exiles to foment an anti-Castro movement inside Cuba, let alone a revolution there, met limited success. On Sunday, April 6, 1980, 7,000 Cubans stormed the Peruvian embassy in Havana seeking political asylum. One of the people who entered the embassy at this time documented his experiences in "Days of the Embassy" (published June 8, 2007). On Monday, April 7, the Cuban government granted permission for the emigration of Cubans seeking refuge in the Peruvian embassy. On April 16 500 Cuban citizens left the Peruvian Embassy for Costa Rica. On April 21 many of those Cubans started arriving in Miami via private boats and were halted by the State Department on April 23. The boat lift continued, however, since Castro allowed anyone who desired to leave the country to do so through the port of Mariel and this emigration became known as the Mariel boatlift. In all, over 125,000 Cubans emigrated to the United States before the flow of vessels ended on June 15.

Post-Cold War Cuba

The fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 dealt Cuba a giant economic blow. It led to another unregulated exodus of asylum seekers to the United States in 1994, but was eventually slowed to a trickle of a few thousand a year by the U.S.-Cuban accords. It again increased in 2004-06 although at a far slower rate than before. Castro’s popularity was severely tested by the aftermath of the Soviet collapse, which led to a cut off in aid, the loss of a guaranteed export market for Cuban sugar and the loss of a source of cheap imported oil. It also caused, as in all Communist countries, a crisis in confidence for those who believed that the Soviet Union was successfully “building socialism” and providing a model that other countries should follow. In Cuba, however, these events were not sufficient to persuade Cuban Communists that they should voluntarily give up power.

By the later 1990s the situation in the country had stabilized.[4][5] By then Cuba had more or less normal economic relations with most Latin American countries and had improved relations with the European Union, which began providing aid and loans to the island. China also emerged as a new source of aid and support, even though Cuba had sided with the Soviets during the Sino-Soviet split of the 1960s. Cuba also found new allies in President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela and President Evo Morales of Bolivia, major oil and gas exporters.

Transfer of duties

Main article: 2006 Cuban transfer of duties

On July 31 2006, Fidel Castro delegated his duties as President of the Council of state, President of the Council of Ministers, First Secretary of the Cuban Communist Party and the post of commander in chief of the armed forces to his brother and First Vice President, Raúl Castro[6][7]. This transfer of duties has been described as temporary while Fidel Castro recovers from surgery undergone after suffering from an "acute intestinal crisis with sustained bleeding". Fidel Castro was too ill to attend the nationwide commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Granma boat landing on December 2, 2006, which fueled speculations that Castro had stomach cancer, though Spanish doctor Dr. García Sabrido stated that his illness was a digestive problem and not terminal, after an examination of the subject on Christmas Day. [[8]]

On January 31, 2007, footage of Castro meeting with Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez was broadcast, where, according to international media reports, Castro "appeared frail but stronger than three months ago", and the Cuban leader made a lengthy surprise appearance by phone on Chávez's radio talk show Aló Presidente the following month. Though Castro loyalists in the Cuban government have maintained that he will stand in the 2008 elections to the Cuban National Assembly, speculation has continued as to whether he will ever return to power. Recent requests for mass donations of copper ornaments can be taken to suggest support for persistent rumors that massive memorial statues are being prepared. [9]

Government and politics

Main article: Politics of Cuba

Revolution Square: José Martí Monument designed by Enrique Luis Varela, sculpture by Juan José Sicre and finished in 1958.

Following the enactment of the Socialist Constitution of 1976, which was adopted without following the procedures laid out in the Constitution of 1940, the Republic of Cuba was defined as a socialist state. This constitution was replaced by the Socialist Constitution of 1992, the present constitution, which claimed to be guided by the ideas of José Martí, and the political ideas of Marx, Engels and Lenin. The present constitution also ascribes the role of the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC) to be the "leading force of society and of the state." Members of both councils are elected by the National Assembly of People’s Power. The President of Cuba, who is also elected by the Assembly, serves for a five-year term and there is no limit to the number of terms of office. Fidel Castro has been President since the adoption of the Constitution in 1976 when he replaced Osvaldo Dorticós Torrado. The Supreme Court of Cuba serves as the nation's highest judicial branch of government. It is also the court of last resort for all appeals from convictions in provincial courts.

Cuba's national legislature, the National Assembly of People's Power (Asamblea Nacional de Poder Popular), is the supreme organ of State power and has 609 members who serve five-year terms. The assembly meets twice a year, between sessions legislative power is held by the 31 member Council of Ministers. Candidates for the Assembly are approved by public referendum. All Cuban citizens over sixteen years of age who have not been found guilty of a criminal offense can vote. Article 131 of the Constitution states that voting shall be "through free, equal and secret vote". Article 136 states: "In order for deputies or delegates to be considered elected they must get more than half the number of valid votes cast in the electoral districts". Votes are cast by secret ballot and are counted in public view. Individual vote totals, which are invariably high, are not verified by non-partisan, independent, or non-state organs and observers. Nominees are chosen at local gatherings from multiple candidates before gaining approval from election committees. In the subsequent election, there is just one candidate for each seat, who must gain a majority to be elected.

No political party is permitted to nominate candidates or campaign on the island, though the Communist Party of Cuba has held five party congress meetings since 1975. In 1997, the party claimed 780,000 members, and representatives generally constitute at least half of the Councils of state and the National Assembly. The remaining positions are filled by candidates nominally without party affiliation. Other political parties campaign and raise finances internationally, whilst activity within Cuba by oppositional groups is minimal and illegal. While the Cuban constitution has language pertaining to freedom of speech, rights are limited by Article 62, which states that "None of the freedoms which are recognized for citizens can be exercised contrary to... the existence and objectives of the socialist state, or contrary to the decision of the Cuban people to build socialism and communism[10]. Violations of this principle can be punished by law." Because the means of production are in the hands of the state and under the control of the government, there have been numerous cases where violations of this law have cost dissidents their employment.

Members of the Communist Party Cubans participate in the community-based Committees for the Defense of the Revolution, which play a central role in daily life. These groups are designed to coordinate public projects, ensure that the population remains loyal to the government's specific brand of socialism, and act as neighbourhood watchdogs against "counter-revolutionary" activities.

File:LaHabana.jpg

Havana City financial district

Since Cuba became a declared socialist republic in 1961, the United States Government has initiated various policy measures against Cuba which have had a considerable political and economic effect on the island; these have variously been designed to remove the leadership and to encourage Cuba to undertake political change towards a multi-party electoral process. The most significant of these measures is the United States embargo against Cuba and the subsequent Helms-Burton Act of 1996. Many believe that the Cuban government does not meet the minimal standards of a democracy, especially through its lack of multi-party contests for seats and the limitations on free speech that limit a candidate's ability to campaign. The Cuban government, its supporters and other observers within and outside Cuba argue that Cuba has a form of democracy, citing the extensive participation in the nomination process at the national and municipal level.

Any change in Cuban government power structure is expected to take some time to make it self apparent due to new strictures of official Cuban government news outlets.

Human rights

Main article: Human rights in Cuba

The Cuban government has been accused of numerous human rights abuses, including torture, arbitrary imprisonment, unfair trials, and extra-judicial executions. Dissidents complain of harassment and torture. While the Cuban government placed a moratorium on capital punishment in 2001, it made an exception for perpetrators of an armed hijacking 2 years later. Groups like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have issued reports on Cuban prisoners of conscience. Opponents claim the Cuban government represses free expression by limiting access to the Internet. The Cuban government denies the International Committee of the Red Cross access to its prisons and many human rights groups including Amnesty International are denied entry to Cuba.

On the fourth anniversary of a major crackdown on human rights activists in Cuba that saw dozens sentenced to long prison terms for peaceful promotion of basic rights and freedoms, human rights organizations called for the release of the 59 prisoners who remain in jail, several of whom are seriously ill.

In the last weeks of March 2003, the Cuban government sentenced 75 peaceful human rights defenders and independent journalists to prison terms of up to 28 years in grossly unfair summary trials. The activists were charged with “disrespect” toward the Revolution, “treason,” and “giving information to the enemy,” in the harshest backlash against peaceful dissent that the island had seen in years.

Since 2003, Human Rights supporters have sent thousands of appeals to the Cuban authorities calling for the release of the prisoners. Sixteen have so far been released on medical parole.

Several of those still in jail suffer from poor health and their conditions have been exacerbated by an unhygienic environment, substandard care and inadequate medical treatment.

The family members of the prisoners who are campaigning for the release of their relatives are subject to continual harassment and persecution. The Ladies in White are the wives and relatives of those imprisoned in the 2003 crackdown. They have persistently and peacefully advocated their release since then.

Organizations like Human Right's Firsts called on the Cuban government and, in particular, to interim leader Raul Castro, to immediately and unconditionally release the 59 individuals who remain in prison since their arrest in the spring of 2003. Here are profiles of four of the prisoners:

Dr. Oscar Elías Biscet is a physician and president of the Lawton Foundation for Human Rights, which peacefully promotes human rights and the rule of law. In reprisal for his human rights activities, the 41-year-old Dr. Biscet was sentenced to 25 years in prison and has been held in some of the harshest conditions, including in punishment cells and solitary confinement. For long periods of time he is denied family visits, the right to leave his cell, and essential packages of medicine and food. Dr. Biscet suffers from chronic gastritis, hypertension and recurring infections, and is reportedly losing his eyesight; his poor health has been severely aggravated by unhygienic prison conditions and harsh treatment. At one point, Dr. Biscet was reported have lost more than 60 pounds.

Normando Hernández González is an independent journalist sentenced to 25 years in prison in the spring of 2003 for his commentaries on Cuban society, including pieces on the Cuban health, educational and judicial systems, and for his promotion of free expression. Mr. Hernández was apparently held in a cell for more than a year with a prisoner known to have tuberculosis, despite repeated concerns expressed by him and his family. He was recently confirmed to have contracted tuberculosis and is suffering from high fevers, fatigue and fainting. The doctors at Prison Kilo 7 in Camagüey, where he is being held, are reportedly refusing him medical assistance. There have also been reports that he has been physically assaulted by prison guards.

Dr. José Luis García Paneque was sentenced to 24 years in prison in 2003 for his work as an independent journalist, as well as for his involvement in a civic initiative to promote democratic reforms, known as the Varela Project. Dr. García Paneque’s health has dramatically worsened since his imprisonment; he suffers from intestinal problems that have caused him to lose almost 90 pounds and at one point left him emaciated at a weight of around 110 pounds. He also suffers from rectal bleeding, and has dangerously low blood pressure. Despite these symptoms, his wife reports that he is not receiving adequate medical care and her request for his release on medical parole in November 2005 has not been answered.

Luis Enrique Ferrer García received a 28-year sentence for his work with the Varela Project, a civic initiative calling for democratic reforms in Cuba. To protest his unjust imprisonment, particularly harsh prison conditions and mistreatment by prison authorities, Mr. Ferrer García has engaged in numerous hunger strikes throughout his detention, often leaving him very ill and weak. In addition, he has been the victim of numerous physical assaults by security guards and violent prisoners, most of whom are encouraged by prison authorities to harass and intimidate him.

Trade unions

There are unions in Cuba, with a membership totalling 98% of the island's workforce. Unions do not register with any state agency, and are self financed from monthly membership dues. Their supporters claim that union officers are elected on an open basis, and differing political views are found within each of the unions. However, all unions are part of an organization called the Confederación de Trabajadores Cubanos (Confederation of Cuban Workers, CTC), which does maintain close ties with the state and the Communist Party. Supporters claim that the CTC allows workers to have their voice heard in government; opponents claim that the government uses it to control the trade unions and appoint their leaders. The freedom of workers to express independent opinions is also a subject of debate. Supporters of the system argue that workers' opinions have in fact shaped government policy on several occasions, as in a 1993 proposal for tax reform, while opponents, citing studies by international labor organizations, point out that workers are required to pledge allegiance to the ideals of the Communist Party, and argue that the government systematically harasses and detains labor activists, while prohibiting the creation of independent (non-CTC affiliated) trade unions, that the leaders of attempted independent unions have been imprisoned, and that the right to strike is not recognized in the law.

Provinces and municipalities

Main articles: Provinces of Cuba and Municipalities of Cuba

Fourteen provinces and one special municipality (the Isla de la Juventud) now comprise Cuba. These in turn were formerly part of six larger historical provinces: Pinar del Río, Habana, Matanzas, Las Villas, Camagüey and Oriente. The present subdivisions closely resemble those of Spanish military provinces during the Cuban Wars of Independence, when the most troublesome areas were subdivided.

Isla de la Juventud Pinar del Río Artemisa Mayabeque Ciudad de La Habana Matanzas Cienfuegos Villa Clara Sancti Spíritus Ciego de Ávila Camagüey Las Tunas Granma Holguín Santiago de Cuba Guantánamo
1	Isla de la Juventud (Isle of Youth)
2	Pinar del Río	9	Ciego de Ávila
3	La Habana (Havana)	10	Camagüey
4	Ciudad de la Habana (Havana City)	11	Las Tunas
5	Matanzas	12	Granma
6	Cienfuegos	13	Holguín
7	Villa Clara	14	Santiago de Cuba
8	Sancti Spíritus	15	Guantánamo

The provinces are further divided into 169 municipalities.

Geography

Main article: Geography of Cuba

Map of Cuba

Casa Blanca, Havana
Climate chart (explanation)
J F M A M J J A S O N D     64     26 19     69     26 19     46     28 20     54     29 21     98     30 22     182     31 23     106     31 24     100     32 24     144     31 24     181     29 23     88     28 21     58     27 20 █ Average max. and min. temperatures in °C █ Precipitation totals in mm Source: [11]
Imperial conversion J F M A M J J A S O N D     2.5     79 66     2.7     79 66     1.8     82 68     2.1     84 70     3.9     86 72     7.2     88 73     4.2     88 75     3.9     90 75     5.7     88 75     7.1     84 73     3.5     82 70     2.3     81 68 █ Average max. and min. temperatures in °F █ Precipitation totals in inches

Cuba is an archipelago of islands located in the Caribbean Sea, with the geographic coordinates 21°3N, 80°00W. Cuba is the principal island, which is surrounded by four main groups of islands. These are the Colorados, the Camagüey, the Jardines de la Reina and the Canarreos. The main island of Cuba constitutes most of the nation's land area or 105,006 km² (40,543 sq mi) and is the seventeenth-largest island in the world by land area. The second largest island in Cuba is the Isla de la Juventud (Isle of Youth) in the southwest, with an area of 3056 km² (1180 square miles). Cuba has a total land area of 110,860 km².

The main island consists mostly of flat to rolling plains. At the southeastern end is the Sierra Maestra, a range of steep mountains whose highest point is the Pico Real del Turquino at 2,005 metres (6,578 ft). The local climate is tropical, though moderated by trade winds. In general (with local variations), there is a drier season from November to April, and a rainier season from May to October. The average temperature is 21 °C in January and 27 °C in July. Cuba lies in the path of hurricanes, and these destructive storms are most common in September and October. Havana is the largest city and capital; other major cities include Santiago de Cuba and Camagüey. Better known smaller towns include Baracoa which was the first Spanish settlement on Cuba, Trinidad, a UNESCO world heritage site, and Bayamo.

Society

Education

Main article: Education in Cuba

School children playing jump-rope in between classes at an elementary school in the Cuban countryside

Historically, Cuba has had some of the highest rates of education and literacy in Latin America, both before and after the revolution. All education is free of charge to Cuban citizens including university education, as it is payed for by the state through tax receipts. Private educational institutions are not permitted. School attendance is compulsory from ages six to the end of Basic secondary education (normally 15) and all students, regardless of age or gender, wear school uniforms with the color denoting grade level. Primary education lasts for six years, secondary education is divided into basic and pre-university education. Higher education is provided by universities, higher institutes, higher pedagogical institutes, and higher polytechnic institutes. The University of Havana was founded in 1728 and there are a number of other well established colleges and universities. The Cuban Ministry of Higher Education also operates a scheme of Distance Education which provides regular afternoon and evening courses in rural areas for agricultural workers. Education has a strong political and ideological emphasis, and students progressing to higher education are expected to have a commitment to the goals of the Cuban government. Cuba has also provided state subsidized education to foreign nationals, including U.S. students who are trained as doctors at the Latin American School of Medicine. The program provides for full scholarships, including accommodation, and its graduates are meant to return to the US to offer low-cost healthcare.[12][13]

Public health

Main article: Healthcare in Cuba

The Cuban government operates a national health system and assumes full fiscal and administrative responsibility for the health care of its citizens. Historically, Cuba has long ranked high in numbers of medical personnel and has made significant contributions to world health since the 19th century. According to World Health Organization WHO statistics, life expectancy and infant mortality rates in Cuba have been comparable to Western industrialized countries since such information was first gathered in 1957. In depth examination of WHO statistics for Cuba reveals that these statistics are prepared by each government and published unchanged by WHO; thus they have been called into question.[[14]][[15]] Nevertheless, the CIA World Factbook cites life expectancy and infant mortality rates that are similar to those for the USA. However, it is not clear what sources the CIA used for this since the data presented seems to be equivalent to that published by the Cuban government, this has led to suggestions that material prepared by Ana Belen Montes (a convicted Castro government agent) is still being used by the CIA.

A separate, second division of hospitals cares specifically for foreigners and diplomats.

Demographics

Main article: Demographics of Cuba

A Chinese/Afro-Cuban girl in Havana's Barrio Chino

According to the CIA World Factbook, Cuba is 51% Mulatto (mixed white and black), 37% white, 11% black, and 1% Chinese. DNA studies throughout the Antilles region have suggested that the contribution of indigenous neo-Taíno Nations to the local populations may be more significant than formerly believed.

According to Cuba's Oficina Nacional de Estadisticas ONE 2002 Census, the Cuban population was 11,177,743, including:

• 5,597,233 men and
• 5,580,510 women.

The racial make-up was 7,271,926 whites, 1,126,894 blacks and 2,778,923 mulattoes (or mestizos). The Chinese population in Cuba is descended mostly from laborers who arrived in the 19th century to build railroads and work in mines. After the Industrial Revolution, many of these laborers stayed in Cuba because they could not afford return passage to China.

(Official 2002 Cuba Census)

	Total	Men	Women	% Of Total
White	7,271,926	3,618,349	3,653,577	65.05%
Black	1,126,894	593,876	533,018	10.08%
Mulatto/Mestizo	2,778,923	1,385,008	1,393,915	24.86%

The Cuban government controls the movement of people into Havana on the grounds that the Havana metropolitan area (home to nearly 20% of the country's population) is overstretched in terms of land use, water, electricity, transportation, and other elements of the urban infrastructure. There is a population of internal migrants to Havana nicknamed "Palestinos" (Palestinians); these mostly hail from the eastern region of Oriente. Cuba also shelters a population of non-Cubans of unknown size. There is a population of several thousand North African teen and pre-teen refugees.

Cuba's birth rate (9.88 births per thousand population in 2006) is one of the lowest in the Western Hemisphere. Its overall population has increased continuously from around 7 million in 1961 to over 11 million now, but the rate of increase has stopped in the last few decades, and has recently turned to a decrease, with the Cuban government in 2006 reporting the first drop in the population since the Mariel boatlift. The decrease in fertility rate - from 3.2 children per woman in 1970 to 1.38 in 2006 - is the third greatest in the Western Hemisphere, with only Guadeloupe and Jamaica showing larger decreases. Cuba, which has unrestricted access to legal abortion, has an abortion rate of 58.6 per 1000 pregnancies in 1996 compared to a Caribbean average of 35, a Latin American average of 27 (the latter mostly illegally performed), and a European average of 48. Additionally, contraceptive use is estimated at 79% (in the upper third of countries in the Western Hemisphere). With its high abortion rate, low birth rate, and aging population, Cuba's demographic profile more resembles those of former Communist Eastern European countries such as Poland or Ukraine rather than those of its Latin American and Caribbean neighbors.

Immigration and emigration have had noticeable effects on the demographic profile of Cuba during the 20th century. Between 1900 and 1930, close to a million Spaniards arrived from Spain. Since 1959, over a million Cubans have left the island, primarily to Miami, Florida, where a vocal, well-educated and economically successful exile community exists (Cuban-American lobby). The emigration that occurred immediately after the Cuban Revolution was primarily of the upper and middle classes that were predominantly white, thus contributing to a demographic shift along with changes in birth rates and racial identifications among the various ethnic groups. Seeking to normalize migration between the two countries - particularly after the chaos that accompanied the Mariel boatlift - Cuba and the United States in 1994 agreed (in what is commonly called the 1994 Clinton-Castro accords) to limit emigration to the United States. Under this, the United States grants a specific number of visas to those wishing to emigrate (20,000 since 1994) while those Cubans picked up at sea trying to emigrate without a visa are returned to Cuba. U.S. law gives the Attorney General the discretion to grant permanent residence to Cuban natives or citizens seeking adjustment of status if they have been present in the United States for at least 1 year after admission or parole and are admissible as immigrants; these escapes are often daring and most ingenious. In 2005 an additional 7,610 Cuban emigrants from Cuba entered the United States by September 30. Citzens of Cuba must obtain an exit permit before they may leave the country. Human Rights Watch has criticized the Cuban restrictions on emigration and its alleged keeping of children as "hostages" in order to prevent defection by Cubans traveling abroad. [[16]]. Over the years, thousands of Cubans have attempted to escape across the Florida Strait to reach the United States. A very large number of Cubans have made it to the U.S. (over a hundred thousand in the Mariel Boatlift alone). But, it has been estimated that between 30,000 to 40,000 Cubans may have perished attempting to flee the island.

Religion

Main article: Religion in Cuba

File:Sancristobalcathedral.jpg

Catedral de San Cristóbal de la Habana (Cathedral of Saint Christopher of Havana)

Cuba has a multitude of faiths reflecting the island’s diverse cultural elements. Catholicism, which was brought to the island by Spanish colonialists at the beginning of the 16th century, is the most prevalent professed faith. After the revolution, Cuba became an officially atheistic state and restricted religious practice. Since the Fourth Cuban Communist Party Congress in 1991, restrictions have been eased and, according to the National Catholic Observer, direct challenges by state institutions to the right to religion have all but disappeared, though the church still faces restrictions of written and electronic communication, and can only accept donations from state-approved funding sources. The Roman Catholic Church is made up of the Cuban Catholic Bishops' Conference (COCC), led by Jaime Lucas Ortega y Alamino, Cardinal Archbishop of Havana. It has eleven dioceses, 56 orders of nuns and 24 orders of priests. In January 1998, Pope John Paul II paid a historic visit to the island, invited by the Cuban government and Catholic Church.

The religious landscape of Cuba is also strongly marked by syncretisms of various kinds. This diversity derives from West and Central Africans who were transported to Cuba, and in effect reinvented their African religions. They did so by combining them with elements of the Catholic belief system, with a result very similar to Brazilian Umbanda. Catholicism is often practised in tandem with Santería, a mixture of Catholicism and other, mainly African, faiths that include a number of cult religions. Cuba’s patron saint, La Virgen de la Caridad del Cobre (the Virgin of Cobre) is a syncretism with the Santería goddess Ochún. The important religious festival "La Virgen de la Caridad del Cobre" is celebrated by Cubans annually on 8 September. Other religions practised are Palo Monte, and Abakuá, which have large parts of their liturgy in African languages.people in cuba are good

Protestantism, introduced from the United States in the 18th century, has seen a steady increase in popularity. 300,000 Cubans belong to the island’s 54 Protestant denominations. Pentecostalism has grown rapidly in recent years, and the Assemblies of God alone claims a membership of over 100,000 people. The Episcopal Church of Cuba claims 10,000 adherents. Cuba has small communities of Jews, Muslims and members of the Bahá'í faith. Havana has just three active synagogues and no mosque. Most Jewish Cubans are descendants of Polish and Russian Jews who fled pogroms at the beginning of the 20th century. There is, however, a sizeable number of Sephardic Jews in Cuba, who trace their origin to Turkey (primarily Istanbul and Thrace). Most of these Sephardic Jews live in the provinces, although they do maintain a synagogue in Havana. In the 1960s, almost 8,000 Jews left for Miami. In the 1990s, approximately 400 Jewish Cubans relocated to Israel in a co-ordinated exodus using visas provided by nations sympathetic to their desire to move to Israel.

Culture

Main article: Culture of Cuba

The courtyard of one of the free museums in Havana, the 'Casa de Simón Bolívar'

Cuban culture is much influenced by the fact that it is a melting pot of cultures, primarily from Spain and Africa. It has produced more than its fair share of literature, including the output of non-Cubans Stephen Crane, and Ernest Hemingway.

Sport is Cuba's national passion. Due to historical associations with the United States, many Cubans participate in sports which share popularity in North America, rather than sports traditionally promoted in other Latin American nations. Baseball in Cuba is by far the most popular; other sports and pastimes in Cuba include basketball, volleyball and athletics. Cuba is the dominant force in amateur boxing, consistently achieving high gold medal tallies in major international competitions.

Cuban music is very rich and is the most commonly known expression of culture. The "central form" of this music is Son, which has been the basis of many other musical styles like salsa, rumba and mambo and a slower derivation of mambo, the cha-cha-cha. Rumba music originated in early Afro-Cuban culture. The Tres was also invented in Cuba, but other traditional Cuban instruments are of African and/or Taíno origin such as the maracas, güiro, marímba and various wooden drums including the mayohuacan. Popular Cuban music of all styles has been enjoyed and praised widely across the world. Cuban classical music, which includes music with strong African and European influences, and features symphonic works as well as music for soloists, has also received international acclaim thanks to composers like Ernesto Lecuona.

Cuban literature began to find its voice in the early 19th century. Dominant themes of independence and freedom were exemplified by José Martí, who led the Modernist movement in Cuban literature. Writers such as Nicolás Guillén and Jose Z. Tallet focused on literature as social protest. The poetry and novels of José Lezama Lima have also been influential. Writers such as Reinaldo Arenas, Guillermo Cabrera Infante, and more recently Leonardo Padura Fuentes, Daína Chaviano, Pedro Juan Gutiérrez, and Zoé Valdés have earned international recognition in the postrevolutionary era, though many of these writers have felt compelled to continue their work in exile due to ideological control of media by the Cuban authorities.

Cuban cuisine is a fusion of Spanish and Caribbean cuisines. Cuban recipes share spices and techniques with Spanish cooking, with some Caribbean influence in spice and flavor. A traditional Cuban meal would not be served in courses; rather all food items would be served at the same time. The typical meal could consist of plantains, black beans and rice, ropa vieja (shredded beef), Cuban bread, pork with onions, and tropical fruits. Black beans and rice, referred to as moros y cristianos (or moros for short), and plantains are staples of the Cuban diet. Many of the meat dishes are cooked slowly with light sauces. Garlic, cumin, oregano and bay leaves are the dominant spices.

Economy

Main Articles: Economy of Cuba, Tourism in Cuba, Rationing in Cuba, Sociolismo

A Cuban state hotel in the Cienguegos bay.

The Cuban Government adheres to socialist principles in organizing its largely state-controlled planned economy. Most of the means of production are owned and run by the government and most of the labor force is employed by the state. Recent years have seen a trend towards more private sector employment. By the year 2006, public sector employment was 78% and the private sector at 22% compared to the 1981 ratio of 91.8% to 8.2%. Capital investment is restricted and requires approval by the government. The Cuban government sets most prices and rations goods to citizens. Moreover, any firm wishing to hire a Cuban must pay the Cuban government, which in turn will pay the company's employee in Cuban pesos.

Starting in the late 1980s, the Soviet subsidies for Cuba's state-run economy started to dry up. Before the collapse of the Soviet Union, Cuba depended on Moscow for sheltered markets for its exports and substantial aid. The Soviets had been paying above-market prices for Cuban sugar, while providing Cuba with petroleum at below-market prices. The removal of these subsidies sent the Cuban economy into a rapid depression known in Cuba as the Special Period. At one point, Cuba received subsidies amounting to six billion dollars.

In 1992, the United States tightened the trade embargo. Some believe that this may have contributed to a drop in Cuban living standards which approached crisis point within a year.

Like some other Communist and post-Communist states following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Cuba took limited free market-oriented measures to alleviate severe shortages of food, consumer goods, and services to make up for the ending of Soviet subsidies. These steps included allowing some self-employment in certain retail and light manufacturing sectors, the legalization of the use of the U.S. dollar in business, and the encouragement of tourism. In 1996 tourism surpassed the sugar industry as the largest source of hard currency for Cuba. Cuba has tripled its market share of Caribbean tourism in the last decade, with large investment in tourism infrastructure this growth rate is predicted to continue. 1.9 million tourists visited Cuba in 2003 predominantly from Canada and the European Union, generating revenue of $2.1 billion. The rapid growth of tourism during the Special Period had widespread social and economic repercussions in Cuba. This has led to speculation of the emergence of a two-tier economy and the fostering of a state of tourist apartheid on the island.[[17]]

The Cuban government has significantly developed its Medical tourism capabilities as a key means to generate income for the country. For many years, Cuba has operated a special division of hospitals that treated foreigners and diplomats while excluding Cubans. Every year, thousands of European, Latin American, Canadian and American consumers with hard cash visit to access medical care services at up to 80 percent less than US costs. There are some who criticize Cuba's medical tourism industry because ordinary Cubans do not have access to the kind of quality healtchare that medical tourists receive. [[18]][[19]]

Since the 1959 Cuban Revolution, living standards in Cuba have been declining. In 1962, the government instituted food rationing policies, which were exacerbated following the collapse of the Soviet Union. In addition, Cuba has been experiencing a housing shortage because of the state's failure to keep pace with increasing demand. As late as 2001, studies have shown that the average Cuban's standard of living was lower than before the downturn of the post-Soviet period. Paramount issues have been state salaries failing to meet personal needs under the state rationing system chronically plagued with shortages. As the variety and amount of rationed goods available declined, Cubans increasingly turned to the black market to obtain basic food, clothing, household, and health amenities. The informal sector is characterized by what many Cubans call sociolismo.In addition, petty corruption in state industries, such as the pilferage of state assets to sell on the black market, is still common. In recent years, since the rise of Venezuela's Socialist President Hugo Chávez, Venezuelan economic aid has enabled Cuba to improve economically. Venezuela's assistance of the Cuban economy comes chiefly through its supply of up to 80,000 barrels of oil per day in exchange for professional services and agricultural products. In the last several years, Cuba has rolled back some of the market oriented measures undertaken in the 1990s. In 2004, Cuban officials publicly backed the Euro as a "global counter-balance to the U.S. dollar," and eliminated the US currency from circulation in its stores and businesses. Increased US government restrictions on travel by Cuban-Americans and on the numbers of dollars they could transport to Cuba strengthened Cuban government control over dollars circulating in the economy. In the last decade, Cubans had received between US$600 million and US$1 billion annually, mostly from family members in the U.S.. This number is influenced by the fact that U.S. government forbids its citizens to send more than $1,200 to Cuba to immediate family members only once per year..

Cuba, the largest of the Caribbean holiday islands, is becoming an increasingly popular tourist destination.

In 2005 Cuba exported $2.4 billion, ranking 114 of 226 world countries, and imported $6.9 billion, ranking 87 of 226 countries. Its major export partners are the Netherlands, Canada and China; major import partners are Venezuela, Spain and the United States. Cuba's major exports are sugar, nickel, tobacco, fish, medical products, citrus, coffee and skilled labor; imports include food, fuel, clothing, and machinery. Cuba presently holds debt in an amount estimated to be $13 billion, approximately 38% of GDP. According to the Heritage Foundation, Cuba is dependent on credit accounts that rotate from country to country. Cuba's prior 35% supply of the world's export market for sugar has declined to 10% due to a variety of factors, including a global sugar commodity price drop making Cuba less competitive on world markets. At one time, Cuba was the world’s most important sugar producer and exporter. As a result of chronic underinvestment and natural disasters, however, Cuba's sugar production has seen a drastic decline. In 2002, more than half of Cuba's sugar mills were shut down. Cuba's most recent sugar harvest of 1.1 million metric tons was its worst in nearly one hundred years, comparable only to those of 1903 and 1904. Cuba holds 6.4% of the global market for nickel which constitutes about 25% of total Cuban exports. Recently, large reserves of oil were found in the North Cuba Basin leading US Congress members Jeff Flake and Larry Craig to call for a repeal of the US embargo of Cuba.[[20]]

Class privilege

While the form of government of Cuba is theoretically opposed to class privilege, they nonetheless exist. Access to transportation, work, university education and better health care are a function of status within the government. Quality of housing also varies with status [21].

Military

Main article: Military of Cuba

Under Fidel Castro, Cuba became a highly militarized society. From 1975 until the late 1980s, massive Soviet military assistance enabled Cuba to upgrade its military capabilities. Since the loss of Soviet subsidies Cuba has dramatically scaled down the numbers of military personnel, from 235,000 in 1994 to about 60,000 in 2003. The government now spends roughly 1.7% of GDP on military expenditures. The present Minister for the Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR) is Raúl Castro, Fidel Castro's brother, who had played a major part as a leader in the Cuban Revolution.[[22]][[23]]

External links

Official

• Template:En icon Granma — International edition of Communist Party of Cuba Newspaper
• Template:En icon Government of Cuba
• List of members of the Council of State
• Template:En icon Cuban News Agency — Cuban News
• Template:Es icon http://www.cu/ — Cuban Portal
• Cuban music old and new Cultural Videos

General

• Template:Wikitravel

• Congressional Research Service (CRS) Reports regarding Cuba
• Cuba Inside Out — History, currents, commentary, resources
• Full Text of the 1899 Cuban Census at University of South Carolina Library's Digital Collections Page