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The Republic of Cuba is an archipelago in the northern Caribbean, in between the Caribbean Sea, the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean. To the north are found the United States and the Bahamas, to the west Mexico, to the south the Cayman Islands and Jamaica, and to the southeast Haiti.
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| National motto: "Patria y Libertad" (Spanish: Homeland and Freedom) | |||||
| Official language | Spanish | ||||
| Capital | Havana (La Habana) | ||||
| Largest City | Havana (La Habana) | ||||
| President | Fidel Castro | ||||
| Area - Total - % water | Ranked 106th 100,860 km² Negligible | ||||
| Population - Total (2002) | Ranked 67th 11,184,023 | ||||
| Independence - Declared | Sp.-Am. War May 20, 1902 | ||||
| Currency | Cuban Peso | ||||
| Time zone | UTC -5 | ||||
| National anthem | La Bayamesa | ||||
| Internet TLD | .CU | ||||
| Calling Code | 53 | ||||
Main article: History of Cuba
Cuba and its originally Amerindian population (Taino, Siboney and Guanajatabey) came under Spanish control in the 16th century. The colony's struggle for independence started in 1868 and continued during the 19th century until the Spanish-American War of 1898. The United States then occupied the island until recognising independence in 1902, though limited by the Platt Amendment (revoked in 1934), after which the US continued to exercise considerable control over Cuban affairs.
Che Guevara, Fidel Castro, Camilo Cienfuegos, Raúl Castro and a small rebel army of less than 100 individuals were one of many guerilla groups that opposed Fulgencio Batista. Castro's 'July 26 Movement' subsumed these other groups quickly and took over Cuba's government in 1959. When the revolutionary government started to carry out radical reforms favouring the countries workers and farmers, such as land reform and the decree limiting rents to a small proportion of wages, relations with the US rapidly deteriorated and the US began planning an invasion of Cuba, training Cuban exiles in Guatemala for what would be the Bay of Pigs invasion. Castro then claimed he was "always a communist". Knowing of the coming invasion, the government turned to Soviet backing and trade ties, declared the Revolution socialist in 1961. The economy began socializing a new government led by the newly-recreated Communist Party of Cuba. A Constitution of Soviet inspiration was implemented in 1976.
For several decades, Cuba sold its principal export, sugar, to the Soviet Union and other Comecon countries, receiving a price which reflected its cost of production. This stood at several times sugar's world market price, artificially depressed by the practice of the US and European Union of dumping subsidised surpluses onto the world market. The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 dealt Cuba a giant economic blow, losing 85% of its export earnings almost overnight. Despite being denied access to development aid from the IMF and World Bank, and in face of an intensification of the US economic blockade, Cuba's economy has steadily recovered, confounding widespread predictions of its imminent demise. Cuba has also successfully defended and even improved its extraordinarily high social indicators, boasting lower infant mortality than the USA and the most favourable doctor/patient and teacher/pupil ratios in the world. While remaining amongst the most egalitarian of societies, social inequality has grown in recent years, the result of the legalisation of the dollar and the growth in tourism.
On June 14 2002, amid giant pro-revolution demonstrations involving more than 75% of the total population, a national referendum adopted an amendment which began "The Socialist Revolution rescued Cuba from a humiliating imperialist domination and turned it into a free and independent nation founded on the close unity, coorperation and consensus of a learned and rebel people who have defended themselves from the aggressions of the most powerful empire that the history of humanity has known". This was in response to repeated statements by US President George W Bush that Cuba's socialist revolution had to overthrown before there could be a normalisation of relations.
Main article: Politics of Cuba
Cuba is a "Communist state", or a parliamentary republic led by a Communist Party. Fidel Castro has been the head of state and head of government since 1959, first as prime minister and after the abolition of that office in 1976 as president. He is also the First Secretary of the Cuban Communist Party, and commander in chief of the armed forces.
The unicameral Cuban parliament is the National Assembly of People's Power or Asamblea Nacional del Poder Popular. Its 609 members are elected to serve five-year terms. The candidates, who may or may not be members of the Cuban Communist Party, are nominated by people and independent political organisations (not the Communist Party). The Communist Party is constitutionally recognised as Cuba's only legal political party.
Other political issues include illegal emigration to the US, the economic and humanitarian embargo enforced by the United States (strengthened in 1996 by the Helms-Burton Act), the government imprisonment of political dissidents, human rights abuses, and the Guantanamo Problem.
In 2001 an attempt was made by Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas and others, operating as the Varela Project, to force a national plebiscite using provisions in the Constitution of Cuba which provided for citizen initiative. If accepted by the government and approved by "public vote," the amendments would have established such things as freedom of association, freedom of speech, freedom of press, as well as the freedom to start private businesses. The Petition was however refused by the National Assembly, and a subsequent crackdown resulted in the imprisonment of 75 political prisoners for terms of up to 28 years on charges of collaborating with and receiving money from the US government.
Main article: Provinces of Cuba
Cuba is divided into 14 provinces of 169 municipalities, and one special municipality (the Isla de la Juventud).
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Main article: Geography of Cuba
The elongated island of Cuba is the largest island in the Caribbean and is bounded to the north by the Straits of Florida and the greater North Atlantic Ocean, to the northwest by the Gulf of Mexico, to the west by the Yucatan Channel, to the south by the Caribbean Sea, and to the east by the Windward Passage. The Republic comprises the entire island, including many outlying islands such as the Isle of Youth, with the exception of Guantanamo Bay, a naval base that has been leased by the United States since 1903. The mainland is the world's 16th largest island.
The island consists mostly of flat to rolling plains, with more rugged hills and mountains primarily in the southeast and the highest point is the Pico Real del Turquino at 2,005 m. The local climate is tropical, though moderated by trade winds. There is a drier season from November to April, and a rainier season from May to October. Havana is the largest city and capital, other major cities include Santiago de Cuba and Economy of Cuba
Cuba continues its public ownership of the economy and has shown itself unwilling to implement "free market" reforms. Tourism has become one of the largest sources of income for Cuba and it has put the American dollar into circulation in parts of Cuba where tourists go.
The Cuban economy was hit hard in the early 1990s following the collapse of the Soviet Union and the Comecon economic bloc, with which it had traded predominantly. More recent problems include high oil prices, recessions in key export markets such as sugar and nickel, damage from hurricanes (most recently an estimated 1 billion dollars economic damage from hurricane Charley), depressed tourism, and faltering world economic conditions. In late 2003, and early 2004, both tourism levels and nickel prices increased, as has the Cuban trade with the USA. One other factor in the "recovery" of the Cuban economy is the remittances of Cuban-Americans (which constitute one-third of the Cuban Economy). Cuba currently trades with almost every nation in the world except the US. Cuba owes billions in Paris Club debt to nations such as France, Japan and Germany.
Main article: Demographics of Cuba
Cuba is a multiracial society with a population of either mixed (mulatto) or more specific Spanish and African origins. There is also a small ethnic Chinese community. The largest organised religion is the Roman Catholic Church. Afro-Cuban or Santería religions, a blend of native African religions and Roman Catholicism, are widely practiced in Cuba. Officially, Cuba had been an atheist state for most of the Castro era, but religious restrictions have been relaxed since 1991 and the state secularised. Smaller Protestant and Jewish minorities also exist.
Main article: Culture of Cuba
| Date | English Name | Local Name | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|
| January 1 | Revolution Victory Day | Triunfo de la Revolución | The former dictator Fulgencio Batista fled in the night from 12/31/1958 to 01/01/1959, marking the victory of the Revolution led by Fidel Castro, who has been President since then |
| May 1 | Labour Day | Día de los trabajadores | International Labour Day |
| July 26 | Commemoration of the Assault of the Moncada garrison | Asalto al cuartel Moncada | In the morning of July 26, 1953, some 160 men under the command of Fidel Castro attacked the Moncada army garrison in Santiago de Cuba, Cuba's second-largest city. Although this action crushingly failed, it is seen as the beginning of Castro's led insurrection that expelled dictator Fulgencio Batista on January 1st 1959 and established a communist regime in Havana thereafter |
| October 10 | Independence Day | Día de la Independencia | This day in 1868, Carlos Manuel de Céspedes, "Father of the Homeland", gave freedom to his slaves and started the independence war against the Spanish colonial power |
| December 25 | Christmas Day | Navidad | Prohibited for decades in revolutionary Cuba, the Christmas celebration (and the corresponding holiday) was reinstalled in 1998 after Pope John Paul II visited Cuba |
' 'Main articles: Santería,Palo Monte,Catholicism' '
The religious landscape of Cuba is strongly marked by syncretisms of various kinds. Though officially Cuba is an atheist state, religious practice is allowed and, especially since 1992, common. Though the papal visit to Cuba has strengthened official Catholicism, most Cubans share a motley of faiths that include popular catholicism, spiritism and African-derived beliefs. The most important currents of these are Regla de Ocha (known as Santería), which derives from Yoruban religion, Regla de Palo Monte, which derives from Congo-based religions, and the Sociedad Secreta Abakuá, which derives from the secret men's societies in the region of Calabar, in south-eastern Nigeria. Other religious manifestations include freemasonry and pentacostalist churches.
It is assumed that Santería and popular Catholicism are the most widely followed religious beliefs in Cuba, though these are by no means exclusive, and one can easily be a follower of several religious currents at the same time, as well as being a member of the communist party.
In Cuba the 6th of January is the "Dia de los Reyes Magos" which in English means "Day of Kings" is celebrated to commerate the day that the Three wise men came to visit Jesus in the New Testament of the Christian Holy Bible. As in most Latin American countries as well as Spain, this day is celebrated in conjunction with, or sometimes instead of Christmas Day.
Important religious festivals include various days dedicated to the saints such as the "Virgen de la Caridad del Cobre" (the Virgin of Cobre, Cuba's patron saint, syncretised with Santería's Ochún) on September 8th, and San Lázaro (syncretised with Babalu Ayé), on December 17th.
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