Cuba

"Island of Cuba" redirects here. For other uses, see Cuba (disambiguation).

Republic of Cuba República de Cuba
Flag Coat of arms
Motto: «¡Patria o Muerte, Venceremos!» ("Homeland or Death, We Shall Overcome!")
Anthem: La Bayamesa File:Cuba National Anthem Instrumental.ogg
Capital	Havana 23°08′N 82°22′W (pop. 2,201,610, 2002) 21°30′N 80°00′W
Largest city	Havana
Official languages	Spanish
Demonym	Cuban
Government	Unitary Marxist–Leninist one-party socialist republic
• President	Miguel Díaz-Canel
• Vice President	Salvador Valdés Mesa
• Prime Minister	Manuel Marrero Cruz
Legislature	National Assembly of People's Power
Independence
• From Spain • Great War	October 10, 1868
•  • Necessary War	February 24, 1895
•  • Treaty of Paris	December 10, 1898
• Independence from the United States • Platt Amendment	June 12, 1901
•  • Republic	May 20, 1902
•  • Revolution	January 1, 1959
•  • Current Constitution	October 10, 2019
Area
• Total	109,884 km2 (42,426 sq mi) (104th)
Population
• 2023 estimate	10,985,974 (85th)
• 2022 census	11,089,511
• Density	100.9/km2 (261.3/sq mi)
GDP (PPP)	2017 estimate
• Total	$142.624 billion (86th)
• Per capita	$12,357
GDP (nominal)	2022 estimate
• Total	US$147.194 billion (60th)
• Per capita	US$13,128
HDI (2021)	0.764 high (83rd)
Currency	Cuban peso (CUP) United States dollar (USD) (CUP, USD)
Time zone	UTC−5 (EST)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−4 (EDT)
Calling code	+53
ISO 3166 code	CU
Internet TLD	.cu
Highest point: Real del Turquino Borders: 28.5 km Coastline: 5,746 km (island of Cuba) Radio prefix: CLA-CMZ / T4A-T4Z / COA-COZ ISO code: 192 / CUB / CU Aircraft registration: CU-T Vehicle registration: C Member of: Parlatino, Petrocaribe, ACP, ALADI, ALBA, ABINIA, SELA, CELAC, CD, Red Cross, FAO, G77, NAM, UN, CIN, UNIDO, OEI, ASALE, ILO, OTI, WMO, IHO, IMO, WTO, WIPO, WHO, UNWTO, OPCW, OPANAL, UPU, UNESCO, ICAO, ISO, WIPO, LU, Interpol, IFAD, ACS, Rio Group. 117 km² of Cuban territory corresponds to the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, run by the United States.

Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an insular sovereign country located in the Antilles of the Caribbean Sea. The territory is organized into fifteen provinces and one special municipality, with Havana as its capital and most populous city.

Cuba is one of the thirteen countries that make up Insular America, the Antilles or islands of the Caribbean Sea, and one of the thirty-five of the American continent. The island of Cuba is of orogenic origin. The archipelago is completed by the Isla de la Juventud and more than a thousand cays or small islands surrounding them: Cayo Coco, Cayo Guillermo, Cayo Santa María, Cayo Las Brujas, Cayo Ensenachos and Cayo Cruz, in the archipelago known as the Jardines del Rey; Cayo Jutías and Cayo Levisa, in the Colorados Archipelago; and Cayo Largo del Sur, in the Canarreos archipelago, among others. It borders, to the north, the U.S. state of Florida and the Bahamas; to the west, Mexico and Honduras; and to the south, the Cayman Islands and Jamaica. To the southeast of Cuba lies the island of Hispaniola.

It is located at the northwestern end of the Antilles, bordered to the north by the Atlantic Ocean, 793 km from the Bermuda Triangle, which separates it from the United States and the Bahamas; to the east by the Windward Passage, which separates it from Haiti; to the south by the Caribbean Sea; and to the northwest by the Gulf of Mexico. With 11,089,511 inhabitants in 2022, it is the second most populous country in the Antilles, after Haiti; with 109,884 km², the largest; and with 100.9 inhabitants/km², the third least densely populated, behind Dominica and the Bahamas. Together with Hispaniola, Jamaica and Puerto Rico, it is one of the four Greater Antilles and the largest island in the region.

Prior to the period of the Spanish colonization of the Americas, which began in the 16th century, Cuban territory was inhabited by various Amerindian peoples. Cuba remained a Spanish province until the Spanish–American War of 1898, when the United States intervened in the so-called Cuban War of Independence. The Cuban-American intervention resulted in the independence of Cuba under a protectorate of the United States until May 20, 1902. During the first half of the 20th century, Cuba sought to strengthen its democratic system, but after severe social conflicts and political tensions, a coup d'état took place in 1952, which resulted in the authoritarian regime of Fulgencio Batista.

Batista left Cuba on January 1, 1959, after a little over two years of conflict led by the 26th of July Movement, an armed organization headed by Fidel Castro. In 1965, the Communist Party of Cuba was founded, and it has governed the country ever since. This was a point of high conflict between the Soviet Union and the United States, in the context of the Cold War, to the point of bringing both nations to the brink of a nuclear war during the Missile Crisis of 1962.

Cuba defines itself as a socialist state governed by the rule of law and social justice, with a single-party political system governed by the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC). The system of government has been described as a dictatorship, while others consider it a "dictatorship with popular support", and a single-party democracy.

It ranks 70th and 73rd in the Human Development Index compiled by the United Nations, and 6th among Latin American countries. According to data supplied by the government of Cuba to the UN, at the beginning of the 21st century it was the only country in the world that met the two criteria that, for the organization WWF, signify the existence of sustainable development: high human development (HDI 0.8) and a sustainable ecological footprint (footprint < 1.8 ha/p). According to data presented by the government of Cuba to the UN, Cuba and Chile have high human development indices in Latin America. With 88% of its population mired in extreme poverty. The traditional diet in Cuban households has been a subject of international concern due to its deficiency in micronutrients and lack of diversity. According to the World Food Programme (WFP), an entity of the United Nations Organization, the average diet in Cuba lacks adequate nutritional quality due to various factors such as the scarce availability of nutrient-rich foods and socioeconomic factors.

Toponymy

There are various theories regarding the origin of the word "Cuba". One hypothesis holds that it is a corruption of the Taíno word "cubanacán", which is the name by which the natives of the island of Hispaniola referred to this territory, according to what was written in the navigation log of Christopher Columbus; however, this proposal has been criticized on the grounds that the original log has not been preserved, but rather a summarized version from which that claim is made.

Another theory on the matter is that the name comes from the Arabic word coba, which is used to designate a domed mosque, and that the island would have been named in this way because of the shape of the mountains seen from Bariay, the first place in Cuba where Columbus landed. Likewise, there is a hypothesis that the island was named in honor of the Portuguese town of Cuba, an idea defended mainly by those who maintain that Christopher Columbus was of Portuguese origin.

History

Main article: History of Cuba

Pre-Hispanic period

Main article: Cuban aborigines

A bohío, a traditional Taíno hut in the mountains of Baracoa.

The current understanding of the pre-Hispanic inhabitants of Cuba comes from the accounts of the Iberian conquistadors, known as the Chroniclers of the Indies, such as Bartolomé de las Casas, who distinguished three different cultures by their ethnic and linguistic traits and their technological and social development. He called them the guanahatabey, the siboney (or 'sibuney') and the taíno.

Over the last century, archaeological, ethnological and morphological studies have shed more light on the lives of these first inhabitants. They reached the island around 6000 BC in migrations from the American mainland. These first groups were Paleolithic hunters of Mongoloid origin.

The second migration, some 4,500 years ago, came from Central and South America; its members had a physiognomy similar to that of the first group. The third and fourth migrations came from the Antilles around 500 BC.

A classification more closely tied to the evolution of these human groups also identifies three groups: the shell age (guanahatabey), the stone age (siboney) and the pottery age (taíno).

These groups shared a matriarchal clan organization, a division of labor by sex and age, an animist religion and ancestor worship.

First voyages of Columbus (1492 and 1494)

Main article: First voyage of Columbus

The route of Christopher Columbus on his second voyage to America. Columbus explored the southern coast of Cuba believing it was a peninsula.

On October 27, 1492, three Spanish ships, the La Pinta, the La Niña and the Santa María, reached the Cuban coast near Bariay. They were commanded by Christopher Columbus, who went ashore the following day.

Between that date and November 5 the ships sailed along the eastern coast of Cuba. On Friday, November 2, Columbus sent two of his men to travel inland through Cuban territory for six days.

Columbus named the island of Cuba Isla Juana in honor of Prince John, heir to the crown. Columbus believed he had reached the East Indies, specifically Cipango (Japan). He did not imagine that beyond this small island lay a gigantic continent unknown to the European world.

According to the Cartas de Indias, once Columbus set foot on Cuban soil he knelt in the sand and, with his head tilted upward, exclaimed: "This is the most beautiful land that human eyes have ever seen." Later, in 1494, on his second voyage, Columbus discovered the present-day Isla de la Juventud, which he named "La Evangelista".

Spanish rule

16th and 17th centuries

Monument to the Taíno cacique Hatuey in Baracoa, Cuba.

In 1508, Sebastián de Ocampo made the first circumnavigation of Cuba. In 1513, Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar was sent by the monarchs of Spain as Adelantado of the Court for the kingdom's new possessions. He was appointed Governor of Cuba, with the power, among others, to found towns and to distribute Indians in repartimiento.

Velázquez had already founded the first town on Cuban territory, Nuestra Señora de la Asunción de Baracoa, in 1511. In 1513 he founded San Salvador de Bayamo, thus preparing the next phase of the conquest: the exploration of the rest of the island, a step prior to the creation of new towns. La Trinidad was founded in January 1514. On February 2, 1514, the only town on the northern coast (later moved inland) was founded: Santa María del Puerto del Príncipe (present-day Camagüey). San Cristóbal de La Habana and Sancti Spíritus were founded between April and May 1514. San Juan de los Remedios was founded on June 24, 1514. Finally, Santiago de Cuba was established in August 1515.

These towns formed the legal, organizational and political base in each region. This was achieved by establishing the institution of the municipality in each act of foundation. Through residency, they also guaranteed that a core of conquistadors would be concentrated in the territory and remain there.

The encomienda was the institution that defined the character of the first colony. It placed the Cuban aborigines in the hands of Spanish encomenderos, who were obliged to Christianize them and teach them to work.

On February 10, 1516, at Velázquez's request, the Bishopric of Cuba was created. Its original seat was in Baracoa, and in 1523 it was moved to Santiago de Cuba. That town was the first capital of Spanish Cuba until the governor's seat was moved permanently to San Cristóbal de La Habana in the mid-16th century. The town of San Cristóbal de La Habana had been founded in 1514 on the southern coast of the western part of the island. It was moved at least twice before it was finally settled at its present location on November 16, 1519. This last date is considered the definitive founding of the city.

Cuba became part of the Viceroyalty of New Spain when the viceroyalty was created in 1535. The island and its provinces formed the Governorate of Cuba, a dependency of the Captaincy General of Santo Domingo. From 1764 it received greater autonomy as a result of the Bourbon Reforms carried out in the Viceroyalty of New Spain by the Count of Floridablanca. Besides the island of Cuba, the Governorate of Cuba included Jamaica (until 1655), the Province of La Florida (from 1567) and Spanish Louisiana (from 1763). In 1777 the Captaincy General of Cuba was established as the successor of the Governorate, with greater autonomy and powers, and it included those same territories.

Oil painting of the port of Havana (1639).

The most important economic sector in these early years of the colony was gold extraction and other forms of mining. It relied on aborigines held in encomienda, as well as some Black slaves who very early became part of the ethnic mix that, centuries later, would make up the Cuban people. Once the gold deposits were exhausted, the sector came to rest on the copper of Santiago del Prado.

As early as 1503, the Catholic Monarchs founded the Casa de Contratación of Seville to organize and regulate Spanish trade with the new territories, which aroused the jealousy of other European powers.

Castillo del Morro (1589).

As a result of the wars between France and Spain, the first French privateers appeared in the Caribbean, later joined by English and Dutch pirates. However, it was the French, such as Roberto de Baal and Jacques de Sores, who attacked the island.

To repel them, the Crown launched two projects, both of which benefited the new capital, Havana. The first was the Fleet System, or Single Port. Under it, all ships from the West Indies (Hispanic America) had to set sail together for Spain from the former Port of Carenas (Havana Bay). This brought an unprecedented commercial boom to the city, its population grew, and its activity diversified as new trades emerged. The second plan aimed to fortify the city. It was preceded by the construction, in 1538, of the second fortress in America, the Castillo de la Real Fuerza.

The fortifications of El Morro and La Punta, built to protect the bay, date from later years. Havana's economic growth contrasted sharply with the limited commercial activity of the more remote towns, which began a contraband trade with the foreign privateers.

18th century: the Cuban Enlightenment

By the 18th century almost all the land on the island had already been distributed, particularly in the west and in the great savannas, but much of it remained unproductive and unpopulated. Tobacco production increased between 1713 and 1720. Sugar production developed alongside tobacco. The new mills, or trapiches, were located near the urban centers. In 1740 the Royal Trading Company of Havana was created. As part of metropolitan control, it was granted the privilege of controlling and shipping tobacco, sugar and hides from Cuba to Spain.

The cities and towns developed very unevenly. By the middle of the century Havana had become the third-largest city and the leading port of the New World, with busy port and commercial activity. In 1728 the Royal and Pontifical University of San Gerónimo of Havana and the College of San José were founded. Together with the convents of Belén and San Francisco, they provided education in the capital, while the Seminary of San Basilio Magno did so in Santiago de Cuba.

Map of the West Indies, Mexico and Central America, the so-called "New Spain", with Cuba at the center, drawn by Herman Moll in 1736.

In this period the first social struggles in Cuba began to appear. They were a consequence of the monopolistic measures taken by the Crown, made worse by the "Estanco del Tabaco" (Tobacco Monopoly). It prohibited the sale of the product to private buyers, set an arbitrary price and fixed the quantities to be purchased. The movements were concentrated among the vegueros (tobacco growers) and the cobreros (copper miners). They gave rise to protests and uprisings, the third of which was put down by the execution of eleven vegueros in Santiago de las Vegas, near the capital. Unable to defeat the monopoly, the wealthiest Havanans decided to share in its profits.

When the Seven Years' War broke out between France and England, Spain entered on the side of France. During this conflict the English sent the largest fleet that had ever crossed the Atlantic, under the command of Sir George Pockock, to take Havana. The city was fiercely defended both by criollos, led by José Antonio Gómez (militia captain of the nearby town of Guanabacoa, who died as a result of the fighting), and by Spaniards, led by the Spanish captain Don Luis de Velasco. Nevertheless, the capitulation of the city was signed on August 12, 1762. The next day British troops entered in triumph. The occupation lasted eleven months.

On July 6, 1763, Lieutenant General Ambrosio de Funes y Villalpando, Count of Ricla, took over the government of Cuba in the name of the King of Spain. In exchange for this strategic position, Great Britain was given the peninsula of La Florida.

The priorities of the Count of Ricla and his enlightened successors focused on strengthening the island militarily. This goal was to be achieved through a new policy based on the need to create a broad economic base and agile administrative mechanisms, so that the defensive system could be as self-sufficient and powerful as possible.

Castillo de Jagua (1742).

The Castillo de Jagua was built by King Philip V of Spain in 1742 to protect Cienfuegos Bay. In Havana, in the short space of two years, the fortresses of El Morro, La Fuerza and La Punta were rebuilt. The fortresses of La Cabaña, Atarés and El Príncipe were built, as were the small forts of La Chorrera, San Lázaro and Cojímar, and the city wall was modernized. By around 1774 the system was completed with the enlargement of the castles of San Severino in Matanzas and El Morro in Santiago de Cuba.

The Spanish process of colonization differed notably from that of the other empires of the time. While the Spaniards sought to integrate the local population and convert it to Christianity, the English and French exterminated the natives and repopulated their colonies with slaves brought from Africa. One figure that reflects this policy is the low number of slaves the Spanish Empire had on the island in the 18th century: 50,000, compared with 60,000 in Barbados or 300,000 in Virginia under the British Empire, or the 450,000 that the French had in Haiti.

The British fleet entering Havana in 1762

In the economy, the administration was reorganized. The Royal General Intendancy of the Army and the Treasury was created, the privileges of the Royal Company of Havana were abolished, and free trade with foreigners was authorized. The Crown issued a new tariff law. The monopoly of Cádiz was ended as other Spanish ports were opened to trade with the island. Urban development plans were carried out, and the whole tax system was readjusted so that it would cover the island's administrative expenses in the short term.

Under Ricla and his successor, the Marquis de la Torre, Havana extended its street paving and began street lighting. It adopted sanitary measures and began building the first Havana promenade, the Alameda de Paula, the first theater, El Principal, and the Palace of the Captains General. The first population census was carried out in 1774. Urban planning of the city began, under which houses with palm-thatch roofs were prohibited and a new architecture of large, ostentatious palaces gradually took hold.

Hall of Mirrors in the Palace of the Captains General, seat of colonial power.

The criollo landowners grew rich, and their new power took shape in institutions such as the Economic Society of Friends of the Country and the Royal Consulate, which channeled their influence on the colonial government.

Between 1782 and 1785, the Captain General of Havana and Governor of Cuba was the enlightened Luis de Unzaga y Amézaga. He was half Cuban: although he was born in Málaga, he spent almost his entire life in Cuba. He coordinated the aid to the United States that the Founding Fathers George Washington, Robert Morris and Patrick Henry requested so that they could win the war against the English, with the crucial support of his brother-in-law Bernardo de Gálvez. Afterward, in April 1783, Luis de Unzaga y Amézaga received a visit in Havana from Prince William IV of England. They reached preliminary agreements for the Peace Treaty of Paris, such as the exchange of prisoners and the exchange of the Bahamas for East Florida. Thus the Captaincy General of Cuba would include the Floridas in addition to Louisiana. In 1784 it continued to maintain good neighborly relations with the United States, to the point that after a hurricane devastated the island, Governor Unzaga obtained the trade and money needed to rebuild several cities and even to build public schools. The enlightened Unzaga is regarded as the creator of the world's first bilingual public education system.

In this context a close-knit and brilliant group of thinkers entered Cuban history: the "Generation of '92", or the Cuban reformist Enlightenment. Francisco de Arango y Parreño was the most brilliant exponent of its socioeconomic project and its sharpest political mind. The main proposals of the group led by Parreño were:

• free trade in slaves;
• an increase in slavery to meet labor needs, and the removal of all obstacles to its intensive exploitation;
• better and more refined use of land, applying the most modern techniques;
• technological development of sugar manufacturing;
• scientific development of the country;
• freedom of trade;
• a reduction of usury on the loans needed to expand agriculture and manufacturing.

19th century: formation of the national identity

Main article: Captaincy General of Cuba

The Teatro Milanés in Pinar del Río, built during the Spanish colonial period in 1838

Cuba developed notably during the first half of the 19th century thanks to the economic reforms of the superintendent Claudio Martínez de Pinillos. He even introduced the railway in 1837, on the Havana–Güines line, the first in the entire Hispanic world. By around 1802, however, another current had begun to appear within the Cuban reformist Enlightenment. The movement gathered around the Bishop of Havana, Juan José Díaz de Espada y Fernández de Landa. It had two centers of influence under his direction: the Royal and Conciliar College Seminary of San Carlos and San Ambrosio and the Royal Economic Society of Friends of the Country. The activity of this new group was directed more toward the social sphere and the realm of ideas than toward the economy.

Politically, the group was not homogeneous. All its members, however, adhered to modern political ideas, with a decentralizing and autonomist tendency. They also valued the Cuban identity then taking shape and wished to influence its formation. Espada was anti-racist, anti-slavery and opposed to large landed estates. He was critical of the oligarchy and embraced a development project based on small agrarian property. Félix Varela, José de la Luz y Caballero, José Antonio Saco, Felipe Poey and Domingo del Monte, among others, were formed within this current.

Another political current placed its hopes for solving Cuba's problems in annexation to the United States. A sector of the slaveholding landowners saw the incorporation of Cuba into the United States as a guarantee for the survival of slavery, given the support they would find in the Southern states. Grouped in the Havana Club, they favored the efforts of the Washington government to purchase the island, as well as the prospect of a "liberating" invasion against Spain led by some American general.

Narciso López directed his efforts toward this last goal. He was a general of Venezuelan origin who, after serving for many years in the Spanish army, became involved in annexationist conspiracies. López led two failed expeditions to Cuba; in the last one he was captured and executed by the colonial authorities in 1851.

Another, more radical separatist current aimed to win the independence of Cuba. It appeared early, since the first pro-independence conspiracy, led by Román de la Luz, was discovered in 1810. This separatism reached a peak in the early 1820s. Under the combined influence of the emancipation struggle on the continent and the constitutional triennium in Spain, Masonic lodges and secret societies multiplied on the island. Two important conspiracies were thwarted in this period. One was that of the Suns and Rays of Bolívar (1823), in which the poet José María Heredia, the summit of Cuban literary Romanticism, took part. The other, later, was that of the Great Legion of the Black Eagle, encouraged from Mexico.

Father Félix Varela Morales, described by Luz y Caballero as "the first who taught us to think", was the initiator of the ideology of Cuban independence. An educator, shrewd politician and philosopher, he maintained that Cuba should be independent of both Spain and the United States, and that such independence would only be real if it were achieved by the island's own means and its own natives. Condemned to death by the Spanish Crown, he lived in exile until his death in 1853. His efforts, however, would take many years to bear fruit, because both internal and external circumstances were unfavorable to Cuban pro-independence aims.

The independence of Cuba as depicted by the magazine La Flaca in 1873.

In 1867 the metropolitan government convened the Board of Information (Junta de Información) to review its colonial policy in Cuba. Its failure was a crushing blow to reformist hopes, which had already been frustrated on repeated occasions. These circumstances strengthened the latent pro-independence sentiment among the most advanced sectors of Cuban society. They led to the organization of a vast conspiratorial movement in the central and eastern regions of the country.

Wars of Independence (1868–1898)

Ten Years' War (1868–1878)

Main article: Ten Years' War

The first Cuban war of independence began on October 10, 1868, at the sugar mill "La Demajagua" in the region of Manzanillo, which belonged to the landowner Carlos Manuel de Céspedes. Céspedes freed his slaves and, without imposing anything on them, invited them to begin the struggle against the Spanish colonialism imposed on Cuba. This marked the beginning of the revolutionary period of the struggle for Cuban independence, which would not triumph until May 20, 1902. During this uprising Céspedes drew up a program of struggle, known as the Manifesto of October 10, setting out the causes and objectives of the war.

The Hotel Inglaterra, built under Spanish rule in 1875

The war failed, however, mainly because of the lack of unity among the pro-independence forces. Neither of the two main goals of the struggle, the abolition of slavery and independence, was achieved.

During the war, which because of its length was named the Ten Years' War, great revolutionary leaders emerged who would play a historic role in later wars and conflicts. Among many others were Ignacio Agramonte, Antonio Maceo, Máximo Gómez, José Maceo, Vicente García González and Calixto García.

Interwar period (1878–1895)

Main article: Fruitful Truce

Between 1878 and 1895 the United States made major investments in Cuba, above all in sugar, mining and tobacco. By 1895 they amounted to 50 million pesos. During this period the United States tightened its commercial control over Cuba.

Peace in Cuba: the entry of General Martínez Campos into Havana, 1878.

As a result of the war and of economic changes that required skilled labor, Spain decreed the abolition of slavery in 1886, which led to a growth of the proletariat. The unfavorable commercial situation added to this. Pressure from the Catalan textile bourgeoisie had led to the enactment of the Law of Commercial Relations with the Antilles (1882) and the Cánovas Tariff (1891). These guaranteed the monopoly of Catalan textiles by forcing Cuba to absorb their production surpluses. This privileged position in the Cuban market consolidated industrialization in Catalonia during the crisis of the 1880s, which stemmed from its problems of competitiveness. It came at the expense of the interests of Cuban industry and was an essential stimulus for the revolt.

During this period changes took place that deepened the colonial structure, the distortion of the economy and dependence on foreign countries. All of this made a war of national liberation necessary.

The Guerra Chiquita took place between 1879 and 1880. It was prepared by Calixto García at the head of the Cuban Revolutionary Committee of New York, and was joined within Cuba by Quintín Bandera, José Maceo and others. There were significant uprisings in Oriente and Las Villas. Spain won easily, which made Cubans aware of the need for much greater preparation and organization. Revolutionary ideas were promoted and encouraged more Cubans to join the struggle. Meanwhile, forces for the uprising were gathered in Cuba.

José Martí and the Necessary War (1895–1898)

Main article: War of 1895

The national hero José Martí (1853–1895).

José Martí was the towering figure of the Cuban and continental 19th century. His political and social ideas transcended the borders of his homeland and set guidelines meant to lead Hispanic America to its "second independence". He created the Cuban Revolutionary Party, conceived as the single organization of all Cuban pro-independence supporters, which was to secure the material and human resources for the new emancipation effort. Through the party and his work as a journalist of universal stature, he promoted a work of clarification and unification. It was centered on the communities of Cuban émigrés, mainly in the United States, but had a wide impact on the island. Martí drove a tremendous renewal of Hispanic letters at the end of the century.

On February 24, 1895, the pro-independence struggle resumed with simultaneous uprisings in Oriente and Matanzas. Although there were uprisings in Bayate, Guantánamo, El Cobre, Ibarra and elsewhere, the event went down in history as the "Grito de Baire".

Before leaving for Cuba from the Dominican Republic, Martí and Gómez signed the Manifesto of Montecristi, written by Martí. This document is considered the program of the revolution in the Necessary War. In it Martí states that this war is a continuation of the previous one. He also states the need to build a new Republic with equal rights for all. At the end he stresses the significant Latin Americanism of the war in Cuba.

After arriving in Cuba on April 1 and 11, the three great leaders of the third war of independence (Maceo, Gómez and Martí) met on May 5 at La Mejorana. Setting aside their differences of approach, they organized the war and approved the plan for the invasion of the West. On May 19, 1895, Martí was mortally wounded at the Battle of Dos Ríos, at the age of 42. It was an irreparable loss for the Cuban pro-independence forces.

During the summer of 1895 the struggle spread to Oriente, Camagüey and Las Villas. In Oriente, Maceo won victories in the battles of El Jobito, Peralejo and Sao del Indio. In Camagüey, Gómez won the battles of Altagracia and La Larga. In Las Villas, Carlos Roloff and Serafín Sánchez rose up in arms.

The Assembly of Jimaguayú, counterpart of the one at Guáimaro (1869), was held on September 16, 1895, and drafted a new "Constitution of the Republic in Arms". It established a smaller and more practical civil authority, a governing council made up of a President (Salvador Cisneros Betancourt), a Vice President and four secretaries. This civil government had authority over political and economic matters, but only limited powers over military affairs. It was established that both this Constitution and the agreements of the assembly would be in force for only two years, after which another assembly would be convened.

One of the most epic chapters of the wars of independence took place between October 22, 1895, and January 22, 1896: the Invasion of the West. Maceo set out from Mangos de Baraguá with 1,400 men, and by the time he reached Camagüey he had 2,500. After crossing the Trocha from Júcaro to Morón they met up with Gómez, and together they formed the Invading Army. In Las Villas they fought the Battle of Mal Tiempo, the most important of the war. In Matanzas they carried out the countermarch, or Loop of the Invasion, a stratagem that allowed them to cross the West more easily. In Havana, in January 1896, Maceo set out for Pinar del Río while Gómez stayed behind to cover him with the Shuttle Campaign (Campaña de la Lanzadera). In Pinar del Río, Maceo fought at Las Taironas and arrived victorious in the western town of Mantua.

Valeriano Weyler replaced Martínez Campos as Captain General of the island. He issued the Reconcentration Edict, which forced thousands of peasants to move to towns and cities in order to isolate the insurgents in rural areas. Cuban sources put the victims of reconcentration at more than 250,000. Other figures point to 300,000 displaced and 100,000 dead from hunger, overcrowding and disease.

Meanwhile, under Maceo's command, the Western Campaign was carried out to consolidate the positions gained during the invasion, with the battles of Río Hondo, El Rosario and El Rubí. In Camagüey, Gómez won the Battle of Saratoga, and Calixto García took Fort San Marcos.

On December 7, 1896, the Cuban pro-independence forces suffered their second great loss: General Antonio Maceo died in the battle of San Pedro at the age of fifty-one.

Between 1897 and 1898, Gómez led the La Reforma Campaign in the territory of Las Villas. Its aim was to draw Spanish soldiers away and relieve the western front, which had lost Antonio Maceo on December 7, 1896. The campaign relied on guerrilla warfare and a war of attrition. Small groups used ambushes and lightning attacks to disorient the enemy and lure them into swampy terrain (manigua), where they would be defeated by disease and exhaustion. About 4,000 insurgents put 25,000 Spanish soldiers out of action.

In Oriente, Calixto García took the cities of Victoria de Las Tunas, Guisa, Jiguaní and Santa Rita, with efficient command of the mambí artillery. Meanwhile, thousands of medium- and small-scale actions took place in the West. The fate of Spanish colonialism was sealed.

Spanish–Cuban–American War (1898)

Main article: Spanish–American War

Between late 1897 and early 1898, autonomous self-government was established in Cuba. The Cuban forces were gaining more and more ground, and the Spanish army was rapidly weakening. It was in this situation that the United States intervened militarily.

On February 15, 1898, the American battleship Maine sank in Havana Bay. It was caused by an explosion from a false flag attack, carried out in order to intervene in the war. The conflict ended with a peace treaty, the Treaty of Paris, signed on December 10, 1898, between Spain and the United States. Under it, the United States received from Spain absolute control of Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Philippines and the island of Guam.

First United States intervention (1898–1902)

Main article: First United States intervention in Cuba

On January 1, 1899, the occupation of Cuba by the United States began, with a government that ruled by military orders.

The battleship Maine entering the bay of Havana.

During this period the intervening government directed its actions along two lines. The first was to help the country recover from the aftermath of the war. To this end it provided direct relief to the population in the form of food and medicine, devised a sanitation plan for the island and created new public schools.

The second was to secure its privileged position with respect to Cuba in the coming republican period. To this end it took several measures:

• It lowered tariffs on American products, which would flood the Cuban domestic market.
• It created the Law of Boundary Demarcation and Division of Communal Estates, under which the State would take over land to be sold to private American companies.
• Through the Railroad Law it favored American investment in that sector and displaced the British.
• Through mining concessions, American companies obtained the right to exploit mines in Cuba.

African Americans of the Tenth Cavalry Division sent by the United States to Cuba.

Through Military Order No. 301 of July 25, 1900, the government called elections of delegates to the Constituent Assembly. The electoral system was based on literate suffrage (only those who could read and write could vote) and property-based suffrage (voters had to own 250 pesos or more in property).

The Constituent Assembly drafted and approved the Constitution of 1901, which was liberal-democratic in character. The Constitution of 1901 contained the classic parts of any constitution. The dogmatic part dealt with the individual rights won and enshrined by the French Revolution. The organic part dealt with the structure, functions and rights of the State organization. Finally, it included an amendment clause (Article 115).

In essence it established a republican and representative regime, organized according to Montesquieu's famous separation of powers. The legislature consisted of a Senate and a House of Representatives (a bicameral system). The judiciary was relatively independent, since its members could not be removed, but they depended on the executive, and sometimes also on the legislature, for their appointments.

As part of this constitution, the assembly was to provide for and agree with the United States government on the relations that should exist between the two governments. While the Cuban commission responsible for reporting on future relations between Cuba and the United States was at work, the US Congress approved the Platt Amendment. Through it the United States government gave itself the right to intervene in the island's internal affairs whenever it saw fit.

The delegates to the Constituent Assembly opposed the amendment. However, American pressure confronted the Cubans with a choice between a republic with the amendment or continued occupation. As a result, the Cubans finally approved the amendment on June 12, 1901.

Republic (1902–1959)

Main article: Republic of Cuba (1902–1959)

Havana Central Station, completed in 1912

Early years (1902–1925)

The Republic of Cuba was born on May 20, 1902, with Tomás Estrada Palma elected as its first president. This first government had the task of formalizing the ties of dependence on the United States. Although he was criticized for this, he won re-election. This provoked an uprising by the opposition Liberal Party, which triggered a new American intervention. Afterward, the Americans created the permanent Cuban army so that they would not have to occupy the country again in the future.

The Cuban economy had grown very rapidly during the first two decades of the century, stimulated by the favorable conditions created by the recent world war. However, this growth was extremely one-sided, based almost exclusively on sugar and on trade with the United States. Moreover, the American capital that had flowed into the island at an increasing rate was the main beneficiary of this growth. It controlled 70% of sugar production, as well as its infrastructure and related businesses.

The economic well-being that resulted from this process proved to be extraordinarily fragile. This became clear in 1920, when a sudden fall in the price of sugar caused a banking crash that bankrupted Cuban financial institutions.

The labor movement, whose roots went back to the last decades of the 19th century, had also been on the rise. Because of the inflation caused by the First World War, this rise later became a real wave. At the First Independent Workers' Congress (1920), workers of different political tendencies reached an agreement of great importance: the creation of the Havana Workers' Federation. It was a step forward in organization and ideology, in which the labor leader Alfredo López Rojas stood out. It led in 1925 to the founding of the National Confederation of Workers of Cuba (CNOC). This was the first nationwide labor organization, and its aims were economic struggle, the organization of the labor movement and the development of workers' consciousness.

President Mario García Menocal with his wife and son.

Alongside the workers, but on a much larger scale, a student and intellectual movement developed. It began on December 20, 1922, with the founding of the Federation of University Students (FEU). One of its founders, Julio Antonio Mella, who served first as secretary and later as president, would be the great leader of this historical period.

In March 1923 a group of intellectuals led by Rubén Martínez Villena publicly protested the fraudulent purchase of the convent of Santa Clara by politicians of the Zayas government. This event, known as the "Protest of the Thirteen", marked the beginning in Cuba of a movement of intellectuals who would take part in the country's political struggles. It gave rise to the Falange de Acción Cubana and the Grupo Minorista, with Villena and others as leading figures.

Government of Gerardo Machado (1925–1933)

The rise of Gerardo Machado to the presidency in 1925 was the oligarchy's answer to the latent crisis. In its economic program, the new regime tried to reconcile the interests of the various sectors of the national bourgeoisie and of American capital. It offered guarantees of stability to the middle classes and new jobs to the working classes. All of this was combined with selective but ferocious repression of political adversaries and opposition movements.

Under this aura of administrative efficiency, the government tried to curb the quarrels of the traditional parties, but discontent among the parties gradually grew. Having achieved this initial consensus, Machado decided to amend the constitution so that he could remain in power for six years.

Machado governed through a repressive policy of imprisonment and torture. Among others, the leaders Alfredo López Rojas and Julio Antonio Mella were assassinated. He outlawed the CNOC and persecuted the revolutionary labor movement.

In this context a general crisis took shape. It was intensified by the Great Depression between 1929 and 1933, whose effects in Cuba worsened the existing situation and created a revolutionary situation. Almost all factions of society organized to confront Machado, covering a broad political spectrum.

On March 20, 1930, a general strike took place in which two hundred thousand workers took part under the slogan "Down with Machado!". This strike, together with the student Tángana of September 1933, is regarded as the beginning of the anti-Machado revolution. These events culminated in another general strike in August 1933. As a result of these pressures, Machado fled the country on August 12, 1933.

Revolution of the Thirties (1933–1940)

Main article: Revolution of 1930

The mediation of the American ambassador Sumner Welles could not prevent Machado's fall, but it did prevent a popular victory. Welles moved to head off the strike and, with the backing of the ABC party, imposed Carlos Manuel de Céspedes y Quesada as President. Céspedes governed from August 13 to September 4, 1933.

On September 4, 1933, Sergeant Fulgencio Batista removed Céspedes through a coup d'état. The uprising had the support of the Student Directorate, and Batista became head of the army with the rank of colonel. The coup created the government of the Pentarchy, which lasted only six days, from September 4 to 10, 1933. Under the authority of the Student Directorate and Batista, the Pentarchy became the Hundred Days Government.

The Hundred Days Government was headed by Ramón Grau San Martín as President, with Antonio Guiteras as Secretary of the Interior. It criticized and opposed the Platt Amendment and took measures of a markedly popular character. Despite the great popular support it enjoyed, it was overthrown on January 15, 1934. This was due to the opposition of the Popular Socialist Party and the lack of recognition from the United States.

Throughout the period 1934–1936 political fragility persisted, reflected in four presidents taking power in two years. Batista's militaristic and repressive policy as head of the army also continued. The army and its methods of repression were modernized. The general strike of March 1935 was drowned in blood, and on May 8 of that year Guiteras was shot dead by Batista's forces.

Constitution of 1940 and the "Auténtico" governments (1940–1952)

Main article: History of Cuban constitutionalism

The period 1937–1945 was one of marked political stability and great democratic changes in the country. Among these changes were a general amnesty for political prisoners, under which 3,000 people were released in 1937, and the legalization of opposition parties. University autonomy was restored in 1939. Above all, a constituent assembly was convened in 1939, which drafted and approved the Constitution of 1940.

The new constitution came into force on October 10, 1940. It was drawn up with the participation of all the country's political sectors. The constitutional convention was made up of 76 delegates representing 9 political parties. This new Magna Carta included important popular demands and opened a new period of institutional legality. It was one of the most advanced constitutions of its time. The first government of this period was headed by Fulgencio Batista, whose candidacy had been backed by a coalition of forces that included the Communists.

Batista during a visit to Washington, D.C. in 1938.

During Batista's government the economic situation improved thanks to the outbreak of the Second World War. These circumstances benefited his successor, Ramón Grau San Martín, even more. Grau was elected in 1944 thanks to the broad popular support he had earned through the nationalist and democratic measures of his previous government.

However, neither Grau nor Carlos Prío Socarrás (1948–1952), both leaders of the Cuban Revolutionary Party (Auténtico), were able to take advantage of the favorable economic conditions of their respective terms. Both governments were marked by political repression, with a series of assassinations of opposition leaders such as the labor and peasant leaders Jesús Menéndez, Sabino Pupo Milián and Aracelio Iglesias. They imposed strict press censorship through the "Gag" decree. They also fostered the creation of gangster groups that controlled the drug trade, prostitution and illegal gambling.

In 1947, some members of the Auténtico Party who were unhappy with the line of the Auténtico governments founded the Party of the Cuban People (Orthodox), under the leadership of Eduardo Chibás. As an offshoot of the Cuban Revolutionary Party – Authentic, the Orthodox Party promised to fulfill the promises betrayed by the Auténticos. Chibás's charisma was decisive in winning public acceptance. Not even Chibás's suicide in 1951 stopped popular support for his party.

The Church of Jesús de Miramar is the second largest in Cuba. It was inaugurated on May 28, 1953, to a design by the architects Eugenio Cosculluela and Guido Sutter.

Government of Fulgencio Batista (1952–1958)

Fulgencio Batista staged a coup d'état on March 10, 1952. This was a few months before elections were to be held on the island, in which Roberto Agramonte of the Orthodox Party was almost certain to be elected. The American embassy informed the United States Department of State that the coup had come as a surprise, but the ambassador, William Beaulac, later admitted that he had known of the plan. At seven in the morning on March 10, Batista met with Colonel Hook, head of the Cuban Air Force mission, and asked him to tell the ambassador that the military agreements would remain in force. The coup met almost no resistance from Prío, even though several university students immediately offered to protect him. On March 27 the United States officially recognized Batista's regime. As the American ambassador in Havana stressed, "General Batista's statements regarding private capital were excellent. They were very well received, and I knew beyond any possible doubt that the business world was among the most enthusiastic supporters of the new regime."

Batista cited widespread violence and corruption as the reasons for the coup. An article published in the New York Daily News in 1958, titled "Mobster Money Cuban Boom", described Batista's plans, together with the American Mafia, to build a network of hotels and casinos along the entire Havana Malecón in exchange for a huge sum of money.

National Museum of Fine Arts, completed in 1954

He also opened mining in Moa to American investment, which the previous president, Prío, had withheld. He applied a policy of reducing the sugar harvest that lowered the country's income by 400 million dollars. As a result unemployment grew, while real wages and the purchasing power of the people fell.

His plan also included improving relations with the United States and building public works to beautify the main cities. Through these works he diverted huge sums of money and managed to attract American tourism. During his government the civil violence of previous years ended, only to be replaced by the violence of the military and paramilitary forces. Hunger, prostitution and gambling flourished.

The military government replaced Congress with an advisory council, abolished the Constitution of 1940 and established the Constitutional Statutes. It did away with freedom of expression, assembly and strike, and established the death penalty. It also abolished university autonomy. In 1954 Batista staged sham elections in which he was the only candidate and, of course, the winner.

The Centennial Generation arose in resistance to the coup. It was a group of young people who, as the centennial of José Martí's birth arrived, gradually abandoned the Orthodox tendency and leaned toward armed struggle. In 1953 Fidel Castro selected a group of more than a hundred men and recruited them for a new uprising plan. After months of training, they decided it was time to assault the Moncada Barracks.

Revolution and socialism (1959–present)

Main article: Cuban Revolution

Armed struggle and civil war (1953–1959)

On July 26, 1953, Fidel Castro and a group of 136 revolutionaries attacked the Moncada barracks (the second most important military unit in the country) and the Carlos Manuel de Céspedes barracks, in Santiago de Cuba and Bayamo respectively. When the action failed, 55 of the attackers were murdered by Batista's soldiers and passed off as combat casualties. Others were imprisoned, among them Fidel, his brother Raúl and Juan Almeida. In 1955 Batista granted an amnesty to the political prisoners. Three things lay behind it: popular pressure; Fidel Castro's mother, who was a friend of the then first lady; and the intervention of the then Bishop of Santiago de Cuba. Fidel Castro and his comrades traveled to Mexico, where they reorganized under the name of the 26th of July Movement.

Fidel Castro, leader of the Cuban Revolution.

On November 30, 1956, the Santiago de Cuba Uprising organized by Frank País took place. At the same time the yacht Granma was due to land with 82 expeditionaries who had set out from Mexico. Among them were Fidel Castro, Raúl Castro, Che Guevara, Camilo Cienfuegos and others. Because of bad weather, however, its arrival was delayed until December 2. They landed at the beach of Las Coloradas, an area surrounded by mangroves south of the present-day municipality of Niquero, only 5 km from Cabo Cruz, in the same municipality. After three days of exhausting march, the 82 expeditionaries were surprised by Batista's army on December 5, 1956, in an area called Alegría de Pío. An unequal fight broke out there. It was to be the fateful baptism of fire of the nascent Rebel Army and went down in history as the Battle of Alegría de Pío.

The American journalist Jules Dubois described Batista's regime as follows: "Batista returned to power on March 10, 1952, and then began the bloodiest period in Cuban history since the war of independence, nearly a century earlier. The reprisals of Batista's repressive forces cost the lives of numerous political prisoners. For every bomb that exploded, they took two prisoners out of jail and executed them summarily. One night in Marianao, a district of Havana, the bodies of 98 political prisoners, riddled with bullets, were scattered through the streets." The American ambassador Arthur Gardner gave his view of Fidel Castro in a report sent to the State Department. The leader of the 26th of July Movement was a "gangster" who "was going to seize American industries" and "nationalize everything". As for the dictator Batista, "I doubt that we have ever had a better friend than him". It was therefore necessary "to support the current government and promote the expansion of American economic interests".

Afterward the Rebel Army, having regrouped at Cinco Palmas and still decimated, managed to reach the Sierra Maestra. There it grew stronger every day with the support of the peasants and the help of the underground. After more than two years of hostilities against Batista's dictatorship, it gained momentum and carried the struggle to the whole people, with the aim of spreading it throughout the country and achieving the long-awaited revolutionary victory.

Fidel ordered Che Guevara and Camilo Cienfuegos to carry the war to the West at the head of Columns 2 ("Antonio Maceo") and 8 ("Ciro Redondo"). They defeated Batista's army in several battles, the most notable of which were the battles of Santa Clara and Yaguajay. At midnight on December 31, 1958, Batista fled the country, leaving it in the hands of General Eulogio Cantillo.

Triumph of the revolution and first decades (1959–1989)

Entry of Fidel Castro and Huber Matos into Havana.

Fidel Castro called on the people to hold a general strike to bring down the provisional government set up after Fulgencio Batista's flight. The rebels finally entered Havana on January 8, 1959. Once they had taken power, they formed a new government. Manuel Urrutia Lleó was appointed president and José Miró Cardona prime minister. Fidel Castro remained Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces. It was a moderate government in which various tendencies coexisted.

President Manuel Urrutia flanked by Che Guevara (left) and Camilo Cienfuegos (right).

Before their victory, Fidel Castro and the leaders of other revolutionary movements drafted the Sierra Maestra Manifesto. In it they pledged to "hold general elections for all offices of the State, the provinces and the municipalities within one year under the rules of the Constitution of 1940 and the Electoral Code of 1943, and to hand over power immediately to the candidate elected". Despite having pledged to hold elections within 18 months, the government chose not to keep this commitment after the triumph of the Revolution. It argued that previous governments had harmed the people of Cuba by allowing corruption and other ills to prevail, and by submitting to the interests of the United States, which, supposedly, would try to "manipulate the elections". The first elections in Cuba were held on June 30, 1974. They were of the socialist type, as established by current Cuban law, and they were not free from criticism.

Execution by firing squad of Arístidez Díaz. Behind him are the bodies of others recently shot.

According to Amnesty International, between 1959 and 1987 there were 237 official death sentences, all but 21 of which were carried out. Other estimates put the total number of political executions as high as 4,000.

In 1959 the Revolutionary Government began to issue a series of decrees that would eventually lead to the total elimination of large and medium-sized private property. Property was guaranteed only over private dwellings, personal belongings and small businesses. These are not clearly set out in the Constitution of 1976, but Cubans are allowed to own them as long as they do not exceed a certain amount of property set by the government. On May 17, 1959, the agrarian reform law was passed, creating the National Institute of Agrarian Reform (INRA). It would become the legal basis for the First and the Second Agrarian Reform Law of Cuba. A process of expropriation and nationalization then began, which hit the upper class and American companies hard. This was badly received by the American government, which had begun its dispute with the Cuban struggle even before the triumph. At the same time, the most conservative sectors in the government (Miró Cardona, Urrutia, Rufo López Fresquet) were replaced. Meanwhile, almost the entire upper class that owned the plantations and sugar mills, and a considerable part of the middle class, left the country and settled mainly in Miami. More than a million Cubans have emigrated from Cuba since then. The great majority have settled in southern Florida (Miami, Hialeah) and New Jersey, while others preferred Spain and Venezuela. There are also small communities in many other parts of the world.

Che Guevara meets the French intellectuals Simone de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre.

On November 7, 1960, Che Guevara set out on a two-month trip through Czechoslovakia, the Soviet Union, China, Korea and East Germany. Both the Soviet Union and China committed themselves to buying most of the Cuban sugar harvest. By the end of the visit, Cuba had trade and financial agreements, as well as cultural ties, with all the countries of the communist bloc. It had diplomatic relations with all of them except East Germany, and scientific and technical assistance agreements with all of them except Albania.

On January 3, 1961, in one of the last acts of his government before handing over power to John F. Kennedy, President Eisenhower broke off diplomatic relations between the United States and Cuba.

On April 15, 1961, American aircraft bearing Cuban insignia attacked the airports of San Antonio de los Baños, Ciudad Libertad and Santiago de Cuba, causing heavy casualties. The following day the socialist character of the revolution was declared, following the ideas of Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin.

On April 17 a large-scale invasion at the Bay of Pigs took place. Its participants were Cuban exiles trained and armed by the CIA in Nicaragua, who sought to overthrow the government. They brought five merchant ships, fifteen landing craft, 1,500 heavily armed men, 16 B-26 aircraft, 5 tanks, trucks and artillery. However, they faced a force of more than 30,000 well-armed and trained men who had received intelligence reports about the operation.

The government quickly mobilized the Armed Forces, and by the morning of April 19 the invading brigade had been defeated. Despite numerous accusations by the United States, the prisoners from the invasion at Playa Girón were not tortured, although many reported mistreatment and humiliation. They were later exchanged for medicine and baby food under the slogan "Mercenaries for compotes". Cuba began to forge stronger ties with the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union gave it support and, together with other socialist states, became a major importer of its cane sugar.

Aerial photograph of a missile installation in Cuba taken by a U2 spy plane.

At the end of June 1962, the Soviet Union and Cuba decided to install atomic missiles in Cuba. The Soviet Union had received an intelligence report about a supposed direct invasion of the island by the United States. They believed this was the only way to deter the United States from invading Cuba. It also marked a further step in the Cold War in Soviet–American relations. In August 1961 the Berlin Wall had been built, in February 1962 prisoners had been exchanged as a result of the U-2 spy plane affair, and American involvement in the Vietnam conflict was continuing. Che Guevara took an active part in drawing up the treaty between Cuba and the Soviet Union, traveling there at the end of August to conclude it. This led to the so-called Cuban Missile Crisis, which brought the world to the brink of nuclear war. It ended with a difficult agreement between Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev. Under it the United States pledged not to invade Cuba and to withdraw the missiles it had installed in Turkey aimed at the Soviet Union, and in return the USSR would withdraw its missiles from Cuba.

Overcrowded Cuban boats bound for the United States.

During the second half of the 1960s and throughout the 1970s, as the country advanced in the socialist process, several economic and political mistakes were made that created discontent among the population. This situation led to the Mariel exodus in 1980. During it, 125,000 Cubans emigrated en masse and in disorderly fashion to the United States, mainly for economic reasons. After this, the economic and social life of the country gradually became more flexible during the 1980s and 1990s. From then on, Cuban emigration was mainly for economic reasons, in contrast with the emigration of the 1960s and 1970s, which was mainly for political reasons. The 1980s were also the years of greatest economic prosperity for revolutionary Cuba, in marked contrast with the austere 1970s and the difficult 1990s. The academic Salim Lamrani has made a comparative study of Cuban emigration over a century and a half. It notes that:

"Cuban emigration to the United States has always been a historical reality, regardless of the political situation on the island [...]"

It also notes that:

"the neighbor to the north naturally represents a land of welcome and opportunity for geographical and economic reasons, where it is possible to improve one's material standard of living. Cuban emigration must therefore be considered within the framework of economic migration from the countries of the South to the North (with the exception of that of the 1960s, motivated by the coming to power of the Revolutionary Government) and not according to a political or ideological approach".

During the Cold War, Cuba was isolated from the rest of the countries of the Americas except Mexico. It was expelled from the OAS (a measure revoked in June 2009) and became extremely dependent on the Soviet Union and the communist bloc. Cuba took part in several wars in Asia (Yemen and Syria) and in Africa (Angola, Ethiopia, Congo, Zaire, Guinea-Bissau, the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic). In Angola it defeated the army of South Africa, contributing to the collapse of apartheid and the liberation of Namibia. It also gave economic, logistical and political support to several guerrilla movements in Central America and South America.

The Special Period (1990–2000)

Main article: Special Period

Varadero in 1994, during the so-called Special Period.

The first problems of economic supply had been appearing in the country since 1989. The Berlin Wall fell in November of that year, and CMEA was officially dissolved in June 1990. This situation led the Cuban government to formally decree the so-called Special Period in Time of Peace in March 1990, the date traditionally taken as its start.

After the fall of the Soviet Union at the end of 1991, the economy of Cuba went into a crisis, sharply worsened by the collapse of the Soviet bloc. Its planned economies disappeared, which drastically reduced the inflow of material goods and food. This political reality, combined with the effects of the economic blockade imposed by the United States, essentially paralyzed the island. Cuba's narrow economic base was concentrated on a few products with few buyers.

The Soviet government had provided Cuba with nearly 5 billion dollars a year in aid, in the form of guaranteed exports for Cuban sugar and cheap oil. The loss of this aid had a severe impact on the Cuban economy.

Demonstrators in Havana on August 5, 1994, during the Maleconazo.

In 1993 the situation became much worse. Cuba's trade fell by 80%, and living conditions deteriorated. The number of Cuban emigrants seeking to improve their economic situation in the United States also soared. This led to incidents such as the sinking of the 13 de Marzo tugboat and the Maleconazo, the largest protests since the beginning of the revolution, as well as the 1994 Cuban rafter crisis.

In 1995 new measures were taken to ease the country's situation. Foreign investment was encouraged, and some very limited forms of private enterprise were allowed. As a result, the Cuban economy gradually improved somewhat. In 1998 Pope John Paul II visited Cuba. During the visit he asked Cuban society, and the rest of the world, for somewhat more flexibility, calling for openness on both sides.

From the second half of the 1990s the country's situation stabilized, largely thanks to the foreign currency brought in by tourism and by remittances from emigrants. By then Cuba had almost normal economic relations with most Latin American countries. Its relations with the European Union, which began to provide it with aid and loans, had improved. 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.

However, in October 2004 the Cuban government announced the end of this policy. From November, American dollars would no longer be legal tender in Cuba and would instead be exchanged for Cuban convertible pesos. The measure was a response to the law promoted by the United States government prohibiting Cuba from using the American dollar.

21st century: Battle of Ideas

Mount of Flags, a monument in the Anti-Imperialist Tribune facing the former United States Interests Section in Havana, now the Embassy. It commemorates the more than five thousand victims of terrorism against Cuba.

Around the year 2000, Cuban President Fidel Castro launched what he called the "Battle of Ideas". It was a major effort to pull the country out of the grim crisis of the Special Period and to undertake some modernization of the country within its limited possibilities. Today the country maintains close political relations with China, Russia, Mexico, Venezuela, Argentina, Bolivia, Ecuador, Nicaragua and Spain, among other countries.

In 2003 the last executions in Cuban history took place, after three young Cubans tried to hijack a ferry to flee to the United States. Once captured, they were convicted of "terrorism". That same year a harsh persecution of Cuban opposition leaders began, known as the Black Spring.

Cuba has extended its influence to countries all over the world by sending doctors, medicines and professionals of all kinds. The Cuban literacy program Yo sí puedo is applied in several Latin American countries. After the disaster caused by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Cuba offered to send a brigade of internationalist doctors to the affected areas of the United States. The American government rejected the offer as "unnecessary and opportunistic".

Cuba's trade relations are mainly with Spain, Canada, Italy, China, Russia and Venezuela. It is a member of ALBA, which makes it a commercial, cooperative and solidarity partner of Bolivia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Dominica, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and Honduras.

In 2006, because of a serious intestinal hemorrhagic illness, Fidel Castro issued a "Proclamation to the People of Cuba". In it he provisionally handed over the presidency to his younger brother, then Vice President, Raúl Castro. In early 2008, after Fidel's definitive resignation, Raúl was finally elected by parliament as the new president. Some opposition sectors mistakenly saw this as a hereditary and undemocratic transfer of power, even though the rules established by the Constitution were followed.

Others, however, placed their hopes in the so-called "socialist transformation" promoted by Raúl Castro, which began a series of still very incipient reforms to democratize life on the island. This has included the resumption of political dialogue with the European Union. There were also hopes placed in the then American President Barack Obama, who had promised dialogue "without preconditions with the enemies of the United States", including Cuba. The 2010 Cuban political prisoners' hunger strike forced the government to release 52 political prisoners, with mediation by the Catholic Church.

Updating of the Economic and Social Model (2011–present)

Main article: Guidelines of the Economic and Social Policy of the Party and the Revolution

José Martí Memorial in the Plaza de la Revolución in Havana.

The foreign policy of the new Cuban government has been described as "successful" by the most diverse analysts. Thanks to the growing number of Latin American member countries supporting Cuba's readmission to the OAS, the possibility of its rejoining the organization, from which it had been expelled in 1962, was finally approved in early June 2009. Strategic relations with Russia and China have been strengthened.

The foreign policy of the new Cuban government has been described as "successful" by the most diverse analysts. Thanks to the growing number of Latin American member countries supporting Cuba's readmission to the OAS, the possibility of its rejoining the organization, from which it had been expelled in 1962, was finally approved in early June 2009. Strategic relations with Russia and China have been strengthened.

In 2008 Cuba officially joined the Rio Group, ending the Caribbean island's isolation from the rest of the continent. In March 2009, Costa Rica announced the restoration of diplomatic relations with Havana. After the victory of Mauricio Funes in the elections in El Salvador, the restoration of relations with the Havana government was announced as part of his program. Cuba thus had the backing of every country in the region, which isolated the unilateral policy of the American government.

The President of Argentina, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, and the Cuban leader Raúl Castro after her visit in January 2009.

On the opening day of the 5th Summit of the Americas, held in Port of Spain, American President Barack Obama faced pressure from his Latin American counterparts, led by Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. He acknowledged that the economic embargo on Cuba had been a failure over the 47 years it had been applied. He said he was prepared for his administration and the Cuban government to engage on a wide range of issues, including human rights, freedom of expression, democratic reforms, drugs and economic matters. This came days after he had lifted some restrictions on American citizens with relatives in Cuba, such as those on travel to the island and sending remittances, and had offered "to seek a new beginning with Cuba". The dialogue began when Cuba said yes to a proposal by Obama to start talks on illegal migration and drug trafficking.

Meeting between Raúl Castro and Barack Obama in Panama, April 2015.

In March 2009, amid a ministerial reshuffle, Vice President Carlos Lage Dávila and Foreign Minister Felipe Pérez Roque were removed from office. Both represented the intermediate generation and were accused of ambition for power and disloyalty to the Revolution. Internationally, at the 39th Assembly of the Organization of American States, held in San Pedro Sula in early June, the organization annulled its resolution of January 31, 1962, which had suspended Cuba as a member.

In mid-April 2011, the 6th Congress of the ruling Communist Party of Cuba (PCC) approved 313 economic reforms. They include:

• allowing tourist travel abroad and the buying and selling of cars and homes;
• greater autonomy for state enterprises;
• measures to boost foreign investment;
• the elimination of the dual currency system;
• lifting restrictions so that private individuals can set up small businesses and farm land on their own account.

This new policy is known as the "Updating of the Economic and Social Model". It is a Cuban equivalent of "Socialism with Chinese characteristics" or the Vietnamese "Doi moi".

Throughout 2022 there was a mass exodus of Cubans, exceeding 225,000 people. According to the working group Justicia 11-J, 1,771 people were detained in Cuba for taking part in various protests. Of these, 750 have been prosecuted, including fifteen minors. The maximum sentence imposed has reached thirty years in prison. In December 2022 a new Penal Code came into force and was used as an instrument to curb dissent.

Restoration of relations with the United States

In December 2014, talks between Cuban and American officials, including Barack Obama and Raúl Castro, led to a prisoner exchange. Cuba released an unidentified United States agent and the American contractor Alan Gross, who had been imprisoned in Cuba for "espionage" activities. In exchange, three Cuban prisoners jailed in the United States were released; they were the members of the Five Heroes who still remained in prison. Among other measures, the United States embargo against Cuba was not lifted, but it was relaxed to allow imports, exports and trade between the two countries within certain limits.

In July and August 2015 the two countries also reopened their diplomatic missions (embassies).

On November 25, 2016, the 60th anniversary of the departure of the yacht Granma from Mexico, Fidel Castro, the historic leader of the revolution, died of natural causes at the age of ninety. The Cuban government decreed nine days of national mourning. Other nations also decreed several days of mourning.

On December 4, 2016, after a farewell procession that stretched more than 1,000 kilometers from Havana, Fidel Castro was buried in Santiago de Cuba in a private ceremony.

In June 2017, American President Donald Trump announced in Miami the rollback of some of the measures Barack Obama had taken toward normalizing relations with Cuba. Since then he has implemented economic measures such as the activation of Title III of the Helms–Burton Act.

On April 19, 2018, Miguel Díaz-Canel was elected President of Cuba. For the first time, a person born after the Triumph of the Revolution reached the highest position in the Cuban State. After taking office, he set a timetable for reforming the Constitution.

On January 20, 2021, Joe Biden took office as President of the United States; one of the points of his program was to normalize relations with Cuba again.

Constitutional reform

The Constitution of 1976 gave the National Assembly of People's Power the constituent initiative. A Drafting Commission was therefore formed, and it drafted a Constitutional Bill. The result was a change of constitution, not an amendment like the previous ones. The bill was submitted for analysis and discussion in a "Popular Consultation" between August and November 2018. The proposals were then reviewed by the Drafting Commission, which made 760 changes. These were reviewed by the National Assembly of People's Power (ANPP). In December 2018 the Assembly debated and voted on the changes. 134 articles were modified, almost 60 percent of the total; three articles were removed and 87 remained unchanged.

The Constitution of 2019 was ratified in the referendum of February 24, 2019. Of the electoral roll, 84% took part, as 7,848,343 people exercised their right to vote. Of the total of 7.8 million voters, 86.8% voted in favor, 9% against and 2.53% cast blank ballots, while 1.62% of ballots were annulled for various reasons. A total of 7,522,569 ballots were declared valid, representing 95.85% of popular participation. According to official data, 6,816,169 citizens voted in favor of the new Constitution and 706,400, or 9% of the electorate, voted against it. The opposition expressed its disagreement with the referendum and denounced electoral fraud. The new Constitution came into force on the same day on which, 150 years earlier, the drafting of the island's first Magna Carta had begun. According to Castro, it is a text that is "a child of its time" and that "guarantees the continuity of the Revolution and sums up the aspirations of all those who have fought for a Cuba of social justice".

On January 20, 2021, Joe Biden took office as President of the United States; one of the points of his program was to normalize relations with Cuba again. In the end, however, the American President kept the measures his predecessor had taken against Cuba:

• the designation of Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism;
• the activation of Title III of the Helms–Burton Act;
• obstacles to both tourist and educational travel to Cuba;
• limits on remittances;
• impediments to Cuban international medical cooperation;
• new restrictions on imports and on the export of Cuban products;
• measures against ships, shipping companies, insurers and reinsurers linked to the transport of fuel.

On July 11, 2021, anti-government demonstrations broke out spontaneously on the island. They were triggered by prolonged power outages caused by fuel shortages and the poor state of the national electrical system. The protests began near Havana, in the town of San Antonio de los Baños in Artemisa Province, and quickly spread throughout the country. The largest protests were concentrated in Havana, although there were also localized protests across the island. The demonstrations are estimated to have lasted 6 days in total. Official figures reported one death and dozens of injuries and arrests.

In February 2026, following the American attack on Venezuela, which had been a major supplier of oil to Cuba, Washington announced an oil blockade against Cuba. Its aim was to hasten the collapse of the Cuban economy and stir up discontent among the population. On January 29, 2026, Donald Trump signed Executive Order 14380, declaring a national emergency with respect to Cuba. The order described Cuba as "an unusual and extraordinary threat to American security and foreign policy" and authorized tariffs on imports from countries that supply oil to the island, directly or indirectly.

In March 2026, the Cuban government publicly confirmed that it was holding diplomatic talks with the United States aimed at addressing the energy crisis.

Government and politics

Main articles: Politics of Cuba and Law of Cuba

Form of government

Since the triumph of the Cuban Revolution (1959), Cuba's political system has been a conventional one-party state. For nearly fifty years, the country was led by Fidel Castro, first as Prime Minister (1959) and later as President of the Council of State and the Council of Ministers (1976). It was subsequently led by Raúl Castro, who succeeded his brother at the head of the organs of State and Government. The period ran from 2008 to 2018, when Miguel Díaz-Canel was elected. Since 2019, the form of government has taken on characteristics similar to semi-presidential or semi-parliamentary systems, resembling other socialist systems such as China or Viet Nam, where there is a Head of State and a Head of Government, each with specific functions, but within a well-established hierarchy. Thus Miguel Díaz-Canel is in command of the State as President of the Republic, and Manuel Marrero heads the Government as Prime Minister.

Palace of the Revolution. Official seat of the Presidency of the Republic, the Government of the Republic and the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba.

The current Constitution of the Republic, promulgated in April 2019, establishes that Cuba is irrevocably a socialist State. The Constitution states in its Article 5 that

The Communist Party of Cuba, Martían, Fidelista, Marxist and Leninist, the organized vanguard of the Cuban nation, founded on its democratic character and its permanent bond with the people, is the superior leading political force of society and of the State, which organizes and guides the common efforts in the building of socialism and the advance toward communist society. It works to preserve and strengthen the patriotic unity of Cubans and to develop ethical, moral and civic values.

Beginning in 1959, land was subjected to two radical agrarian reforms, which limited landholding to three caballerías per individual, who, according to the Constitution of 1976 and with prior State authorization, may incorporate their land only into agricultural production cooperatives, or sell or exchange it to the State, or to cooperatives and small farmers, and the self-management of productive bodies. However, since the economic crisis brought on by the end of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (CMEA), the government has promoted an opening to foreign capital investment under privileged conditions compared with the investment Cubans themselves might make. Investments from abroad are permitted provided that foreign capital does not exceed 49 percent of the capital invested in an industry.

Powers of the State

Cuba is a unitary state and, similar to other states with parliamentary forms of government, all organs of power arise from the parliament. There is no clear separation of powers in the traditional sense, but there is a division of functions and independence of action.

The Cuban unicameral parliament, the National Assembly of People's Power, is the supreme organ of State power. It is the only organ with constituent authority, in addition to its legislative function, as well as the power to elect the President, Vice President and Secretary of the Assembly itself; the President and Vice President of the Republic; the members of the Council of State; the President and other members of the National Electoral Council; the President, Vice Presidents and justices of the People's Supreme Court; the Attorney General and Deputy Attorney General; and the Comptroller General and Deputy Comptroller General of the Republic. It also has the power to appoint, on the proposal of the President of the Republic, the Prime Minister and the other members of the Council of Ministers. It is currently made up of deputies elected by universal, free, direct and secret vote, proposed by a National Candidacy Commission from among municipal delegates (50%) and other persons of recognized political, economic, social or cultural standing (50%).

Palace of Justice of Matanzas, Cuba

This slate of candidates is ratified or rejected by the people in the national elections held every five years, with each candidate considered ratified who obtains 50% plus 1 of the total valid votes. Deputies directly represent the citizens of the municipalities for which they were nominated. They are not grouped by political parties, Cuba being a one-party system, although the vast majority are members of the Communist Party of Cuba. The Cuban parliament has little plenary activity; it meets in two ordinary sessions per year and in extraordinary session as often as it is convened by the Council of State or by one-third of the deputies. The rest of the time it works in permanent or temporary committees.

The Council of State (elected by the parliament) is collegiate in nature; it is accountable to the National Assembly of People's Power and reports to it on its activities. The President, Vice President and Secretary of the National Assembly also hold those positions in the Council of State. Members of the Council of Ministers and the highest authorities of the judicial, electoral or State oversight bodies may not belong to this body. Its function is to ensure compliance with the Constitution and the laws, to give them general and binding interpretation, to oversee the control and supervision of the organs of the State, and to enforce the resolutions of the National Assembly, among many other powers that give this body an important position in the country's politics, similar to the functions of Senates in other systems of government. This body has full legislative authority, through decree-laws that must be ratified by the parliament.

The President of the Republic, Head of State, is elected by an absolute majority of the National Assembly of People's Power, together with the Vice President of the Republic of Cuba, on the basis of the slate of candidates proposed by the National Candidacy Commission, for a term of five years, renewable only once and with an age limit: 60 years of age at the start of the first presidential term. Unlike other states with strong parliaments, the President of the Republic has broad powers and authority in the political life of the country, in addition to holding the Supreme Command of the Revolutionary Armed Forces.

The Government of the Republic is made up of the Prime Minister of Cuba, Head of Government, and the Council of Ministers, who hold the executive-administrative functions in the country. Its members are appointed by the parliament. The Council of Ministers is also made up of an unspecified number of Deputy Prime Ministers (currently five), who may or may not be ministers, its Secretary, the rest of the ministers and the presidents of other entities with ministerial rank. The Cuban government meets in full or in select session on a weekly basis.

The other higher organs are the People's Supreme Court, which heads the nation's single judicial body; the Attorney General's Office of the Republic, as guarantor of legality for citizens and institutions; the Comptroller General's Office of the Republic, which serves as the highest auditing body for the economy and finances of the State; and the National Electoral Council, which serves as the electoral body, responsible for organizing electoral processes, plebiscites and popular consultations.

City Hall of Santa Clara, Cuba

Local Organs of People's Power

At the local level, the organs of the State and Government were modified by the new Constitution of 2019. The municipalities constitute the most important territorial organization with autonomy, which consists of choosing their leaders, administering their own resources and deciding, through consultations with their citizens, matters of local interest, among other things.

The highest organ of local power lies with the Municipal Assemblies of People's Power, made up of delegates elected by equal, direct and secret vote in each constituency. This assembly has specific functions and has the power to elect its president, who represents the State in its jurisdiction and appoints the Municipal Intendant, who directs the municipal administration through the Municipal Administration Council, thus holding the executive-administrative functions, similar to the separation of functions at the national level.

The province is constituted as an entity with legal personality that groups several municipalities with similar economic and cultural interests. It is directed by the Provincial Government of People's Power, which replaced the Provincial Assemblies of People's Power. It is made up of a Governor, who heads the executive-administrative functions of the province and is assisted by a corresponding administrative entity; the Provincial Government also includes a Vice Governor and a Provincial Council, the latter made up of the Presidents and Vice Presidents of the Municipal Assemblies and the Intendants.

At the provincial level there is no division between the representation of the State and of the Government; all of this representation lies with the Provincial Government. It is also established that the Provincial Governments, in the exercise of their functions and powers, may not assume or interfere with those conferred on the municipal organs of People's Power by the Constitution and the laws.

Symbols

Main article: National symbols of Cuba

The tocororo (Priotelus temnurus) is the national bird of Cuba.

According to Law No. 128, the "Law of National Symbols," promulgated in Havana on July 13, 2019, replacing the previous law of 1983, the new law adds the possibility of using representations of the symbols on clothing, or changes in the materials from which they are made. The national symbols are:

• The flag, first raised by Narciso López on May 19, 1850, in Cárdenas, Matanzas. Proclaimed the national ensign on April 11, 1869.
• The national coat of arms, also called the coat of arms of the Royal Palm, created in 1849.
• La Bayamesa (Anthem of Bayamo), the national anthem. First performed publicly on June 11, 1868.

The national emblems, meanwhile, are the royal palm, the butterfly flower and the tocororo. The flag of Carlos Manuel de Céspedes is considered a historical symbol and is permitted to fly alongside the national flag at La Demajagua and in the city of Bayamo.

Electoral system

Since the adoption in Cuba of the new "Constitution of the Republic in the year 2019," its first transitional provision established that within a period of no more than six months the National Assembly had to draft a new Electoral Law, which was approved unanimously in the ordinary session on July 13 of that same year. The previous Law of 1992 was thereby repealed in light of the new changes imposed by the current Constitution regarding the manner of election of the various actors in national, provincial and municipal politics in Cuba. Under the new Constitution, an organ of State power was created with permanent responsibility for electoral processes; this organ is the National Electoral Council, elected by the National Assembly.

The electoral mechanism does not differ much from the previous one, beginning with the nomination of candidates for delegates to the Municipal Assemblies of People's Power, who are not chosen by parties but through assemblies in each neighborhood or electoral constituency, where any citizen can propose candidates (under the system of a non-partisan democracy). In the assembly the qualities of the persons proposed are explained, and the final candidacies are decided by majority in a show-of-hands vote by the residents. For those citizens chosen, the electoral campaign consists merely of the publication of a short biography and their photo. All citizens over the age of 16 may vote in the elections. The vote count is public, so it can be observed by any citizen, whether Cuban or foreign. The election is held every five years, in which the Delegates to the Municipal Assemblies of People's Power, the highest local organs of State power, are chosen; the presidents and vice presidents of these assemblies are elected by them in their constituent session and represent the State in their jurisdiction. These same assemblies appoint the Municipal Intendant, a new figure created to handle the administration of each municipality.

The largest number of changes with respect to the previous law were made at the provincial level: the Provincial Assemblies of People's Power disappear and in their place the Provincial Governments are created, headed by a Governor and a Vice Governor and assisted by a Provincial Council, which is made up of all the top leaders of the State and government of the municipalities that make up the province. The Governors and Vice Governors are elected every five years by the delegates of the Municipal Assemblies, convened as special electoral colleges on the same day and at the same hour throughout the country, from candidates proposed by the President of the Republic of Cuba.

National elections continue to be held every five years by the free, direct and secret vote of the electors; the Deputies to the National Assembly are elected from the slates proposed by the National Candidacy Commission, with 50% coming from the local assemblies and the other 50% from renowned figures across the spectrum of Cuban civil society. On each ballot only one vote is valid, which may be an "individual vote" or a "vote for all" in a special box that allows voting for all candidates at once, and all candidates with more than half of the votes are elected. This latter way of voting is promoted by the Cuban government, which says that it constitutes a show of unity against the government of the United States. Moreover, this option is a demonstration that decisions must be made collegially among people of different social backgrounds and ways of thinking. The first elections of this kind were held in February 1993. Seven and a half million Cubans were called to vote, of whom 97% voted. Internal opposition groups called for blank or spoiled votes as a way of rejecting the Castro government, hoping to obtain between 30% and 40% spoiled votes, blank votes or abstentions, but obtained only 7%. The police presence at the polls was discreet; there was only the supervision of schoolchildren. Fidel Castro was one of the 582 candidates for deputy who, on closed slates, submitted to the direct and secret vote of the citizens, along with 1,190 delegates to the 14 Provincial Assemblies. Fidel Castro voted in the eastern province of Santiago de Cuba, for one of whose districts he was a candidate for deputy. In subsequent years, it has been children of the José Martí Pioneers Organization who guard the ballot boxes.

Following the election of deputies, and during the constituent session of the National Assembly, the President, Vice President and Secretary of the Assembly, the members of the Council of State, and the President and Vice President of the Republic are elected, at two different moments, from candidates proposed by the Commission itself. Also, in that same session, the law itself organizes the election by the parliament of the President and members of the National Electoral Council, the President and justices of the People's Supreme Court, as well as the Attorney General and the Comptroller General of the Republic. The Prime Minister, the Deputy Prime Ministers and the other members of the Council of Ministers are appointed, not elected, so their regulation does not fall within the scope of the Electoral Law.

Historically, since the beginning of these elections, Fidel and Raúl Castro were elected deputies to the National Assembly with more than 90% of the votes. The most recent parliamentary elections were held in 2018, with Raúl Castro elected deputy for the municipality of Segundo Frente in the province of Santiago de Cuba, and Miguel Díaz-Canel, the current President of the Republic of Cuba, for the municipality of Placetas in the province of Villa Clara. The next elections are scheduled for 2023.

Armed forces

Main article: Revolutionary Armed Forces of Cuba

Members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Cuba marching during the changing of the honor guard at the mausoleum of José Martí.

The body responsible for the defense of the country is the Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces, which administers and directs the Revolutionary Armed Forces. Castro invoked the danger of military aggression to maintain Armed Forces that are among the largest, relative to the country's total population, and best prepared in Latin America, since Cuba has been the victim of countless terrorist acts and of the opposition's struggle against its government. These acts have cost human lives, such as that of the Italian tourist Fabio Di Celmo, in addition to countless material damages, mainly in the tourism sector.

With the disappearance of the so-called socialist or communist camp or bloc, the country's defense was affected by the cutoff of arms supplies and the consequent deterioration of defense. In these circumstances, some important means of combat have been created in simple domestic industries, such as small warships, armored vehicles and rifles. Increasingly, Cuba's top military commanders are becoming involved in business activities, just as happened in Russia after the Soviet collapse.

The internal order of the country is regulated and guaranteed by the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Justice.

International relations

■ Cuba
■ Cuban embassies
■ Consulates-general
■ Cuban interests section

Cuba's international relations are managed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Following the imprisonment of nearly a hundred opponents, and the execution by firing squad of three hijackers of a passenger boat during the first half of 2003 who sought to emigrate to the United States, the European Union signed a resolution that drastically reduced the level of diplomatic relations with Cuba. The Cuban government, in response, eliminated diplomatic contacts with the European Union until, at the beginning of 2005 and at the proposal of the Spanish government, it resumed them.

Former President of Brazil Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, on an official visit to Cuba, is received by Raúl Castro.

Currently, the government of Cuba maintains close relations with China, Venezuela, Bolivia and Hispanic America in general, and the resumed relations with Europe, mainly with Spain. It continues to lose billions annually due to the economic, financial and commercial blockade maintained by the government of the United States since 1959. Cuba unconditionally supports Latin American countries and has helped countries in disasters such as the earthquake in Pakistan, the tsunami in Indonesia and many other countries that have requested humanitarian aid, sending medical brigades, food and other resources for the benefit of those most in need.

Cuba has diplomatic relations with 194 States. Of these, 189 are full members of the United Nations and 5 are not (Palestine, the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, the Cook Islands, the Holy See and Niue). In addition, it has relations with the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and of Malta, and also with the European Union. All of this adds up to a total of 196. In addition, it has 143 diplomatic missions in 116 countries, of which 114 are embassies, 2 consulates-general, 19 consulates, 4 diplomatic offices and 4 representations to multilateral organizations.

On December 17, 2014, the United States and Cuba announced that they would begin talks to restore diplomatic relations, which had been interrupted for more than half a century. The embassies in the respective capitals of both nations were inaugurated in August 2015.

Human rights

Main article: Human rights in Cuba

Cuba is a founding member of the Human Rights Council of the United Nations, and was elected to its vice presidency in 2010.

However, the failure to respect and defend some of the human rights proclaimed by the signing of these agreements was denounced, mainly between 2003 and 2012, by international bodies and by the Cuban dissidence.

In matters of freedom of expression, since at least 1970 not a single journalist has been murdered or disappeared because of the exercise of their profession in Cuba, a very remarkable and exceptional fact considering the serious problem this issue has represented for most of the countries of Hispanic America; however, hundreds of journalists and opponents of the government have been imprisoned or have been victims of the government's repressive measures for denouncing the abuses of the Island's military leadership. In Cuba, the policy of giving priority attention to children has made it possible to eradicate the phenomenon of children living on the street, a unique situation with respect to the Latin American reality, where millions of children still suffer deprivation, exploitation and labor in prostitution networks.

Territorial organization

Main article: Political-administrative organization of Cuba

Beach on Cayo Levisa, Pinar del Río Province

Throughout its history, Cuba has had different political-administrative structures. Beginning in 1976, following the approval of a new Constitution, the country adopted a completely renewed political-administrative division, which structured the geographic space of the Cuban archipelago into 14 provinces and one special municipality: the Isla de la Juventud. In turn, the provinces were divided into municipalities, the latter numbering 169.

On August 1, 2010, the National Assembly approved a modification of this model of territorial organization, consisting of the segmentation or partition of the former Province of La Habana into the two new provinces of Artemisa and Mayabeque, as well as the dissolution of the municipality of Varadero, which was reincorporated into that of Cárdenas. The Republic of Cuba is thus currently divided into a total of 15 provinces, subdivided into 167 municipalities and one special municipality. All these changes came into force on January 1, 2011.

Pinar del Río (11 municipalities). Artemisa (11 municipalities). La Habana (previously Ciudad de La Habana; 16 municipalities). Mayabeque (11 municipalities). Matanzas (13 municipalities). Cienfuegos (8 municipalities). Villa Clara (13 municipalities). Sancti Spíritus (8 municipalities).	Ciego de Ávila (10 municipalities). Camagüey (13 municipalities). Las Tunas (8 municipalities). Granma (13 municipalities). Holguín (14 municipalities). Santiago de Cuba (9 municipalities). Guantánamo (10 municipalities). Special Municipality of Isla de la Juventud (1 municipality).

Geography

Main article: Geography of Cuba

Topographic map of Cuba.

Mountains of the Sierra Maestra seen from the plain.

Viñales Valley, Cordillera de Guaniguanico.

Cuba is an archipelago made up of the largest island of the Antilles, called Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud (formerly called Isla de Pinos), and 4,195 keys, islets and adjacent islands. It is located in the Sea of the Antilles (or Caribbean Sea), near the coasts of the United States and Mexico.

It is bounded to the north by the Straits of Florida, to the east by the Windward Passage, to the south by the Caribbean Sea and to the west by the Gulf of Mexico.

It has an area of 109,884 km² (not including territorial waters). The nearest territories are: the Bahamas (Cayo Lobos) at 22 km, Haiti at 77 km, Jamaica at 140 km, the United States (Key West) at 150 km, and Mexico at 210 km.

Climate

Cuba, owing to its tropical climate, has high temperatures. Mean annual values range from 24 °C on the plains to 34 °C and more on the eastern coasts, with figures below 20 °C in the highest parts of the Sierra Maestra.

The season from November to April is less hot and is known as winter, while the hotter months from May to October are called summer. The absolute maximum and minimum temperatures recorded are 39.3 °C (Veguitas, Granma, on April 11, 2020) and 0.6 °C (Bainoa, February 18, 1996). As is typical in tropical climates, the daily temperature variation is greater than the annual one.

Mean relative humidity is high, with averages close to 90%. Daily maximums, generally above 95%, occur at sunrise, while minimums drop at midday to 50–60% in the interior of the territory. The most humid areas are the western and central regions, together with the main mountain ranges. The effect of the high relative humidity gives the Cuban archipelago an intense sensation of heat during much of the year.

Between September and November, cyclones and hurricanes are frequent.

Hydrography

Main article: National Institute of Hydraulic Resources

Waterfall on the Brazo de Buey River, Sierra Maestra.

It has a hydrography in which the flow and extent of wetlands are governed by rainfall, which constitutes the determining factor in water supply.

Among the rivers of Cuba, the one with the greatest flow, the Toa, and the longest, the Cauto, stand out; both are located in the eastern region.

Spillway of the Buey Arriba reservoir (Granma Province).

In this region during 2004 there was an uneven distribution of rainfall, with extreme droughts and floods that could be controlled. In addition, although not directly, various hurricanes and cyclones have influenced rainfall and have lately been increasing.

In 2006 and 2007 the reservoirs, rivers and lagoons reached full capacity, supplying water to most of the population.

In recent years, the country has been hit by intermittent droughts. Attempts have been made to alleviate this situation through the construction of several water transfers and desalination plants, as well as the restoration of aqueducts and pipelines, seriously deteriorated by lack of maintenance since the 1990s.

Geology

Main article: Speleological Society of Cuba

The national flower of Cuba is the "Butterfly Flower," Hedychium coronarium.

This archipelago was once submerged. In the Jurassic it was populated by a rich marine biodiversity in a strait between Laurasia and Gondwana. Some Jurassic–Cretaceous rock sequences belong to the Passive Continental Margin and are an example of continental magmatism.

It has a great diversity of rocks and soils, from the limestones of Viñales to the red soil of Moa. It has various submerged caves, such as the Ojo del Mégano in Villa Clara, and emerged ones such as Santo Tomás. The underwater development of stalactites and stalagmites shows that the territory was out of the water just 10,000 years ago.

The Cuban countryside dominated by the royal palm, its national tree.

Flora and fauna

Main article: National System of Protected Areas of Cuba

Notable in Cuban fauna are mammals such as hutias, various bats, reptiles (none of them venomous, with the large population of crocodiles standing out), amphibians (among them the third-smallest frog in the world, called the Monte Iberia frog, at 1 cm), fish and marine animals, especially those that inhabit the coral reefs. Insects and insectivorous mammals are also abundant. Cuba has the zunzuncito, the smallest bird in the world, at 5.5 to 6.1 cm. The tocororo is the national bird and is native to the country.

The flora includes more than 6,500 species of seed plants alone, especially in the forests, among which are tropical plants, river plants and fruit trees. Originally Cuba was covered with dense vegetation, which has been degraded to develop agriculture. Nevertheless, there are many programs for the care and maintenance of these forests, which harbor great diversity. Cuba's precious woods are highly prized.

American crocodile (Crocodylus acutus) in Cuba

According to data from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Cuba is one of the countries in the world that achieve annual growth in their forested area, which represents more than 30% of the land.

The country has six biosphere reserves: Sierra del Rosario, Cuchillas del Toa, the Guanahacabibes Peninsula, Baconao, the Zapata Swamp and Buenavista.

In Cuba chemical insecticides are not widely used; instead, those of animal and plant origin are used, including vermiculture (the use of earthworms) to fertilize the soil. Practices of this kind have placed Cuba as the only country on the planet with sustainable development according to the WWF.

Land crab (Gecarcinus ruricola) in Sancti Spiritus

The island is considered the green lung of the Caribbean. The Cuban authorities have created more than 250 protected natural areas, covering the equivalent of 22% of the country. The Jardines de la Reina Nature Reserve, which includes nearly 150 kilometers of islands, reefs and mangroves, is home to one of the best-preserved coral reefs in the world.

Economy and finance

Main article: Economy of Cuba

In 2020, the country was the world's 139th largest exporter (US$1.6 billion, less than 0.1% of the world total). In imports, in 2019, it was the world's 126th largest importer: US$5.3 billion.

In 2019, Cuba produced: 8.7 million tons of sugarcane (between the 21st and 25th largest producer in the world); 950 thousand tons of plantain; 795 thousand tons of cassava; 752 thousand tons of vegetables; 555 thousand tons of sweet potato; 480 thousand tons of tomatoes; 382 thousand tons of mango; 377 thousand tons of rice; 307 thousand tons of corn; 206 thousand tons of yautia; 184 thousand tons of papaya; 169 thousand tons of beans; 129 thousand tons of potato; 27 thousand tons of tobacco; 5.3 thousand tons of coffee; in addition to smaller productions of other agricultural products. In livestock production, in 2019 Cuba produced 234 thousand tons of pork, 438 million liters of cow's milk, 81 thousand tons of beef and 24 thousand tons of chicken meat, among others.

Historical evolution of Cuba's GDP per capita

The Economy of Cuba also depends heavily on remittances.

The economic embargo imposed by the United States on Cuba has had a significant impact on the country's economy. This action has limited Cuba's access to international markets and has hindered its ability to carry out financial and commercial transactions with other countries. In addition, it has negatively affected foreign investment and has limited Cuba's access to the technology and resources necessary for economic development. Despite the Cuban government's efforts to diversify its economy, the embargo remains a major obstacle to the country's economic growth and prosperity.

The World Bank lists the main producing countries each year, according to the total value of production. According to the 2018 list, Cuba had the 66th most valuable industry in the world (US$13,000 million).

In 2019, the country was the world's fifth largest producer of cobalt (3,800 tons) and the world's tenth largest producer of nickel (49,200 tons). In other minerals, it is not among the largest producers in the world.

Hotel Nacional in Havana, Cuba

In non-renewable energy, in 2020 the country was the world's 53rd largest producer of petroleum, extracting 41 thousand barrels/day. In 2011, the country consumed 150 thousand barrels/day (the world's 64th largest consumer). The country was the world's 37th largest importer of oil in 2013 (160 thousand barrels/day). In 2016, Cuba was the world's 62nd largest producer of natural gas, 1,100 million m³ per year. In 2016, the country was the 87th largest consumer of gas (1,100 million m³ per year). The country does not produce coal.

In renewable energy, in 2020 Cuba did not produce wind power and had 0.1 GW of installed solar power capacity.

In 2018, Cuba was the 50th most visited country in the world, with 4.6 million international tourists. Tourism revenues that year were $2.9 billion.

Cuba's economy and finances are managed and regulated by the Ministry of Economy and Planning and the Ministry of Finance and Prices. Since 1962, Cuba's political-economic system has been one-party and statist, identified with Marxism–Leninism. Cuba was the first country in the Americas to adopt a planned economy, by which the production and distribution of goods, as well as the labor force, were centralized and directed by the State.

Making cigars in Santiago de Cuba.

The country's first three economic sectors (agriculture and mining, industry and services) are regulated, managed and supervised by the Ministries of Agriculture, Energy and Mines, Industries, Food Industry, Construction and Tourism.

The percentage of workers employed by the public sector fell from 91% in 1981 to 76% in 2000. Since the 1990s, there has been a movement toward more jobs in the private sector. Foreign capital investments require government approval. 85.2% of the working-age population has upper secondary education, and 30% are professionals and technicians, of whom 61.3% are women. Beginning in June 2009, holding multiple jobs was permitted to mitigate the global crisis and the aging of the population.

The fall of the Soviet Union, Cuba's main supplier and market, ushered in the Special Period. To overcome the crisis, caused by the end of the CMEA, the government promoted foreign capital investment, signing agreements with countries such as China, Italy, Canada and Venezuela, among others.

Since mid-2005, the current Cuban economy has been undergoing a process of recovery owing to the droughts and hurricanes, which have caused damage to export crops and those for domestic consumption, and energy rationing. With respect to electricity consumption, Cuba has carried out the energy revolution, so called by the government to promote the need for saving, new means of obtaining energy and raising awareness among the Cuban people. GDP grew rapidly from that year on, reaching:

• 11.8% in 2005
• 12.5% in 2006
• 7.5% in 2007
• 4.3% in 2008

Economic reforms

Beach at Varadero.

In 2013, as part of the economic reforms carried out by the government of Raúl Castro, the labor force of 5.1 million people was 77% employed by State institutions and 23% in private activities. Such activities were endorsed in the new Constitution but are not viewed favorably by all Cubans.

According to the Cuban government and Amnesty International, the United States embargo against Cuba has had a negative impact on the country's economic recovery; nevertheless, Cuba is the only country recognized by the UN as having eliminated child malnutrition.

The UN has condemned this blockade on 28 consecutive occasions between 1992 and 2019.

The official currencies are the Cuban peso (divided into 100 centavos) and the freely convertible currency (MLC). 1 MLC is equivalent to 1 USD.

According to the CIA's The World Factbook, in its 2006 edition, Cuba's gross domestic product (GDP) reached 45,510 million, with real growth of 9.5%. According to the same source, GDP is divided as follows:

Exports to		Imports from
Country	Percentage	Country	Percentage
Netherlands	25.8%	Venezuela	15.2%
Russia	21.1%	Italy	14.5%
Venezuela	18.3%	Spain	13.7%
Canada	13.3%	France	6.5%
China	10%	Canada	5.7%
Spain	6.8%	China	5.3%
Others	4.7%	Others	39.1%

• Agriculture: 5.1%
• Industry: 27.2%
• Services: 67.6%

The active labor force consists of 4.82 million people, with a low unemployment rate (1.9%); 78% of this labor force works for the State, which controls the fundamental means of national production. It is regulated and protected by the Ministry of Labor and Social Security.

The trade balance is in deficit, since exports amount to 2,956 million dollars, while imports amount to 9,510 million dollars. There are two ministries responsible for managing and administering trade: the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment and the Ministry of Domestic Trade.

The foreign debt amounts to 16,620 million in convertible currency, plus 32,200 million to Russia, although in December 2013 Russia forgave 90% of that Soviet-era debt, leaving 3,200 million outstanding.

The main industries are: tourism, sugar, petroleum, tobacco, construction, nickel, steel, cement, agricultural machinery and the pharmaceutical industry. Among agricultural products, the following stand out: sugarcane, tobacco, citrus, coffee, rice, potatoes and beans. Livestock production is also important.

International reserves increased to 11,103 million dollars in 2014, doubling those of five years earlier. In recent years, the country's economy has grown by around 2% annually.

Transportation and infrastructure

IL 96 at José Martí International Airport in Havana.

Everything related to transportation in Cuba is managed by the Ministry of Transportation. The country has a developed road network for motor transport totaling 52,202 km, of which 17,212 km are paved. Of these, 11,450 are roads classified as being of national interest, including 654 km of highways and 400 km of other multilane expressways, and 1,435 of the Carretera Central. This network covers all the provinces and cities of the country.

The country also has an extensive railway network 8,193 km in length that reaches all the provincial capitals and the main ports. The State company in charge of the railway network is Ferrocarriles de Cuba. For public transportation, trains more than twenty years old are still used, although new equipment is arriving in the country from China and Iran. There are train services from Havana to Pinar del Río and to Guantánamo, crossing the entire country.

Aviation in Cuba is relatively little used domestically, although there are about ten airports with regular flights to Havana. The most important international airports are located in Havana, Varadero, Holguín and Santiago de Cuba. The national airlines are Cubana de Aviación, Aerogaviota, AeroCaribbean, Aero Varadero and Aerotaxi.

Transportation by bus is the most widely used; there are two State companies in charge of this activity: Viazul, which operates in Cuban convertible pesos (CUC), and the Empresa de Ómnibus Nacionales (EON), which operates in Cuban pesos (CUP). Both companies have modern Yutong buses. These companies operate mainly at the interprovincial level. Other means are used for district and urban transportation. Rigid buses can be seen in the main cities, while articulated buses are mainly in Havana. The popular "Camellos" were progressively withdrawn, but they can still be seen running medium-distance routes, such as the one on the Jagüey Grande–Matanzas route. Minibuses somewhat deteriorated by time are used to connect small urban centers.

According to the 2012 census, 95.5% of dwellings had electricity (in urban areas the figure reached 99.6); 96.4 had a place for cooking; and 91.3 of them, and 92.6 of the population, had sanitary facilities (bathrooms) inside or outside the dwelling. By 2018, the country had achieved 100% electrification.

In 2014 a container port was inaugurated in Mariel; it required an investment of 700 million dollars and was built by the Brazilian company Odebrecht.

Media

Main article: Media of Cuba

Facade of José Martí International Airport.

Cuba's official media are publicly owned and are in the hands of the central State and the corresponding municipalities. Information policy is directed by the PCC and managed through the Ministry of Communications. There are various independent media outlets, based mainly outside the country. Among these are: Martí Noticias, CiberCuba, Diario de Cuba, 14 y Medio, Cubanet and ADN Cuba, among others.

Radio and television are owned by the State. The Cuban Institute of Radio and Television (ICRT) is the institution that controls radio and television broadcasts.

Television

Main article: Television in Cuba

Cuban television was the pioneer of television broadcasting in the Latin America and Caribbean area; it was officially inaugurated on October 24, 1950, with Canal 4 going on the air. Subsequently, on March 11, 1951, Canal 6 of CMQ Televisión began its regular services.

Currently, Cuban television is publicly owned and controlled by the Cuban Institute of Radio and Television (ICRT). It has five mixed analog-digital channels with national coverage (Cubavisión, Tele Rebelde, Educational Channels 1 and 2, and Multivisión), one international channel (Cubavisión Internacional), as well as provincial and local channels and telecenters. Educational Channel 2 broadcasts the signal of the Latin American news network TeleSUR for several hours a day.

Recently, digital television has begun to be introduced with the Chinese standard, thanks to which several new digital channels were added: Canal Caribe (news), which from March 2020 broadcast the channel RT en Español with interruption until May 24, 2020; Canal Clave (music); Mi TV canal Infantil (for children); and Cubavisión + (in HD2, with varied programming), bringing the total number of national channels to ten. As part of a strong investment in the island's telecommunications, starting Monday, May 25, 2020, two high-definition television channels, HD-3 and HD-4, came into operation, increasing the number of digital channels to 12, 4 of them in high definition. Likewise, the HD-4 channel has begun to broadcast the RT en Español channel live 24 hours a day, 7 days a week without interruption, and the HD-3 channel is broadcasting the Tele Rebelde channel, devoted entirely to sports.

Radio

Main article: Cuban Radio

The first station to broadcast in Cuba was 2LC, belonging to Luis Casas Romero, on August 22, 1922. On October 10, 1922, the first broadcast of PWX is officially considered the beginning of radio broadcasting; at that moment an inaugural speech by the then President of the Republic, Alfredo Zayas, was broadcast in Spanish and in English.

The National Radio Network in Cuba has 100 stations: 1 international, 8 national, 19 provincial and 72 municipal; there are also 85 municipal radio studios distributed throughout the national territory.

Print press

Main article: Union of Journalists of Cuba

The newspaper with the largest circulation is Granma, organ of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba. Also notable are weeklies such as the provincial newspapers and the youth magazines. Among the Cuban national newspapers are:

• Diario Granma
• Juventud Rebelde
• Trabajadores
• Orbe (Prensa Latina)

For young people and children there are:

• Pionero
• Somos Jóvenes
• Zunzún

Although the press is publicly owned, magazines of the Catholic Church and of other Christian denominations are also published and are available to any citizen. Thus, in Havana, the archdiocese of the Catholic Church publishes monthly magazines such as Palabra Nueva and Espacio Laical. In the Diocese of Pinar del Río the magazine Vitral is published every two months.

For its part, the Diocese of Holguín publishes the magazine Cocuyo; and likewise each diocese, pastoral movement and many parishes publish their own magazine or bulletin with ecclesial topics of interest, religious instruction and church news. Of all the bulletins, the one with the widest reach throughout the nation is Vida cristiana, which is published in Havana, appears weekly and reaches all Catholics in the country. Today the Church seeks greater inclusion in broadcast media such as television and radio, to which it does not have access, for a greater reach and freedom in its pastoral activity.

Recently, the Christian Center for Reflection and Dialogue of Cárdenas, in the province of Matanzas, hosted the project Cuba Posible, a new platform for dialogue to think about the Cuba of the future, committed to the sovereignty of the island and to nonviolence, but with the participation of all sectors of Cuban society inside and outside the island. Its founders are Lenier González and Roberto Veiga, former editors of the magazine Espacio Laical. However, this publication subsequently closed.

Internet and new technologies

Main article: Internet in Cuba

The Cuban government once went so far as to call the Internet "the great disease of the 21st century." However, in the first decade of the 21st century, it was able to raise its level of computing, adapting to new technologies. This began in the universities and has now reached primary education. With the aim of teaching, and of production and operability in banks, stores and industries, Cuban computer specialists have created software of fairly acceptable quality. It consists of educational multimedia for school levels in almost all subjects, as well as programs for managing or creating information and speeding up the old manual work.

Cuban student using a computer at a primary school.

Until now, access to the Internet has been via satellite, which is costly and slow: for example, Cuba has only 65 megabits per second for uploading information and 124 megabits per second for downloading information. According to the Cuban government, the fact that the island requires this satellite connection is mainly due to the United States embargo against Cuba, which prevents it from obtaining the Internet through fiber-optic cables like other countries, harming access for individuals and for international organizations such as IFLA, Amnesty International, Freedom House, Reporters Without Borders or the OpenNet Initiative.

Until 2008, Cuba had a very limited number of 190,000 private Internet users. Most of these private Internet users were doctors; their provider is the Ministry of Public Health (Infomed), and most of them only have access to sites in the local domain (.cu) and to sites in other domains, generally on subjects related to medicine and for research purposes.

In 2009, the government permitted free access to the Internet in post offices. Cuba has 1,351 registered domains (.cu) and 2,500 websites, of which 135 belong to press media. There are also some providers that offer Internet connections to foreigners residing on the island.

Recently, the government of Raúl Castro has also lifted the restrictions on citizens in matters of communications and has permitted the ownership of computers, DVDs, cell phones, etc. At the same time, the Cuban government signed an agreement with Venezuela to lay a submarine fiber-optic cable from La Guaira that would allow Cuba and other countries (Jamaica, Haiti and Trinidad and Tobago) to have high-speed Internet by 2010.

In July 2008, the government of the United States, through its Interests Section in Havana, declared that it was offering Cuba the possibility of connecting to the Internet through its companies. The economic embargo prohibited Cuba's access to the submarine cables that pass just 32 kilometers from the Havana Malecón.

On December 6, 2018, the State communications monopoly ETECSA activated 3G at 08:00 (13:00 GMT), and customers rushed to their devices to start connecting. However, this service has a high rate, which has not prevented citizens from being jubilant about having Internet on their mobile phones.

In 2019, nearly seven million of the eleven million Cubans had access to the Internet, most of them through cellular telephony, amounting to 56% of the population.

Following the monetary reorganization of January 2021, which meant a sharp increase in wages, the prices of Internet and communication services were kept at the same previous price, becoming significantly cheaper in the following months. In August 2021, ETECSA announced its first combined packages of mobile data, calls and SMS. In the summer of 2021 it was announced that currently more than 68% of Cubans access the Internet, mobile telephony has 6.6 million users, 4G networks are growing, and 76% of the population has coverage of the digital television signal.

According to ETECSA on its official website, at the close of the first quarter of 2021, 100% of the country's municipalities already had 4G coverage, and 39% of the people's councils also had this possibility.

Demographics

Main article: Demographics of Cuba

Alejandro Robaina, patriarch of one of the leading Cuban tobacco-producing families.

According to the latest census, the resident population of the island in 2012 was 11,167,325 inhabitants. That is about 10,418 fewer than in the 2002 census, according to the National Office of Statistics and Information (ONEI), the state body responsible for keeping Cuban demographic data. The percentage of women is slightly higher than that of men, at 50.01% and 49.99% respectively. It is the most populous country of the insular Caribbean, with a population density of 102.3 inhabitants/km². Average life expectancy is 78 years, one of the highest in Hispanic America.

Ethnography

Main article: Ethnography of Cuba

(Official census of Cuba, 1899–2002)

Group %	1899	1907	1919	1931	1943	1953	1981	2002
Whites	66.9	69.7	72.2	72.1	74.3	72.8	66	65.05
Blacks	14.9	13.4	11.2	11	9.7	12.4	12	10.08
Mulattos	17.2	16.3	16	16.2	15.6	14.5	21.9	24.86
Asians	1	0.6	0.6	0.7	0.4	0.3	0.1	1

Cuba is a multiracial society with strong origins in the Iberian Peninsula and on the African continent. Cuba is also home to a large community from the former post-Soviet space, as well as Chinese people. The latest census, carried out in 2012, showed a progressive racial mixing of the population.

However, these statistics are based on self-reporting, and the real proportion of Blacks and people of mixed race is probably higher. Racial prejudice can lead to "self-discrimination," causing some people of mixed race to declare themselves white and some Black people to declare themselves of mixed race.

Cuban children in school uniform in Pinar del Río

Contemporary Cuban society is not very racist: "there is no hatred toward Blacks, Whites or people of mixed race. Neither racial prejudice, nor racial discrimination, nor racism dominate the social climate," says Esteban Morales, a researcher at the Center for American Studies of the United States. The ethnic and sociocultural mixing is among the highest in the Americas, and there are no "ethnic ghettos" comparable to those of the United States and some other countries of the Americas.

Prejudice has a long history. Between the Spanish colonization of the Americas and the abolition of slavery, more than three centuries anchored colonial logic and racial supremacy in people's minds. Cuba was the second-to-last country on the continent to ban slavery, in 1886. Until the Cuban Revolution of 1959, the island practiced a segregation comparable to that of the states of the southern United States. In particular, Black people were denied access to many public places, including most beaches and restaurants, were discriminated against in access to education, and were generally paid lower wages. Almost the entire Cuban bourgeoisie was made up of Whites.

On March 22, 1959, Fidel Castro described racism as a "social defect to be eliminated." With the approval of egalitarian policies and laws, institutional racism came to an end. Despite the absence of specifically anti-racist policies, the social condition of Black people improved significantly. Consequently, discrimination in pay and in access to education is prohibited.

However, in the 1990s, the emergence of private enterprises encouraged the spread of inequalities. In the tourism sector, some business leaders believe that foreign visitors prefer to be served by white staff and therefore exclude people of color from their teams. While in the state sector there are barely more managerial positions held by the white population than by the Black or mixed-race population, there is a strong asymmetry in the private sector. According to research carried out in 2000 by Eduardo San Marful and Sonia Catasus of the Center for Demographic Studies (CEDEM) of the University of Havana, in that year Black managers accounted for 5.1% and mixed-race managers for 19.5%, while 75.4% were white. These inequalities are mainly due to remittances (money that emigrants send to their families), since 83.5% of exiles are white.

Health

Main article: National Health System (Cuba)

Hermanos Ameijeiras Hospital in Centro Habana.

Public health in Cuba is managed by the Ministry of Public Health. All Cuban citizens, whether or not they reside in the country, have access to doctors, nurses, specialists and medicines, and are entitled to receive care, free of charge, at all health institutions. Through the Ministry of Public Health, the State guarantees the right to medical care as follows:

• free medical and hospital care, through the network of rural medical service facilities, polyclinics, hospitals, and prophylactic and specialized treatment centers;
• free dental (stomatological) care;
• health promotion and health education plans, periodic medical examinations, general vaccination and other measures to prevent disease.

The entire population cooperates in these plans and activities through the mass and social organizations.

The Cuban State grants working women paid maternity leave, before and after childbirth, and temporary work options compatible with their role as mothers. After the revolution, Cuba has stood out for extending the coverage of health services to its entire population. This has made it an example for other countries in the Latin American and global context, something that has been recognized by the United Nations and has given the country a notable place in the field of human development.

Infant mortality in Cuba has become one of the lowest in the entire hemisphere, comparable to that of developed countries. The same is true of maternal mortality, thanks to the favorable conditions and priority that the country has given to medical care and nutrition for these segments of the population. In 2015, Cuba became the first country to eliminate mother-to-child transmission of HIV and congenital syphilis, a status recertified in 2017. The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has reported that there are no problems of child malnutrition in Cuba, the only Latin American country to have reached that goal.

Cuba has a life expectancy considerably higher than the average of the American continent, with thousands of older adults even exceeding 100 years of age. Among the causes of this is the Caribbean country's health system, which is of high quality, comprehensive, universal, continuous and free. On the other hand, Cuba's birth rate is one of the lowest in the world, comparable to those of developed countries such as those of the European Union.

There are currently 22 Faculties of Medical Sciences, distributed across all the provinces of the country. Some faculties admit only foreign students, such as the Latin American School of Medicine (ELAM) in Havana, and there are many others throughout the country. These currently implement a new model of education under agreements with Venezuela within the framework of the ALBA. They give low-income students from Venezuela, Bolivia, Honduras and Ecuador the opportunity to study, housed in student residences.

The island's public health system has won recognition from specialized global and regional bodies. Cuba provides medical aid to other countries such as Bolivia, Honduras, Venezuela and many others. According to the Cuban government, some 50,000 Cuban aid workers provide medical services in more than sixty countries; according to the European press, 4,000 of them are doctors. More recently, a notable example was the State's dispatch in 2014 of several hundred doctors and nurses to Africa to help fight the Ebola outbreak detected in the western part of the continent. Cuba has one of the lowest infant mortality rates in the world, with a rate of 5.3 per thousand live births in 2007.

Household diet and nutrition

Market in Havana

The traditional diet in Cuban households has been a matter of international concern because of its micronutrient deficiency and lack of diversity. According to the World Food Programme (WFP), an agency of the United Nations, the average diet in Cuba lacks adequate nutritional quality. This is due to various factors such as the scarce availability of nutrient-rich foods, socioeconomic factors and poor eating habits. The WFP's annual report on Cuba supports earlier testimony and evidence, pointing to an alarming situation. Although the country has implemented food subsidy programs, many of them with WFP support, the population's diet remains nutritionally insufficient. Specifically, rationed foods cover only a minor percentage of the daily energy, protein and fat needs of the population aged 14 to 60.

These deficiencies have led to health problems such as overweight and obesity, arising mainly from a diet high in sugars and salts. In addition, there is marked inequality in access to adequate food, with people who lack access to foreign currency and remittances being the most affected. The report also raises concern that the minimum wage is insufficient to cover the recommended nutritional requirements.

The political and socioeconomic context has influenced this situation. The implementation of the Tarea Ordenamiento, an economic reform that eliminated many food subsidies, has contributed to alarming inflation. This has worsened the shortage of basic foods such as cereals, vegetables, dairy products and meat. As a result, Cuban households spend between 55% and 65% of their income on food, a percentage considered disproportionate by international standards.

Nevertheless, the report recognizes the efforts of the Cuban government in areas such as social protection and universal access to basic services. It highlights the country's position in the 2021–2022 Human Development Report and its extensive COVID-19 vaccination coverage. The WFP has increased its collaboration with the Cuban authorities to address food security problems. In 2022, the agency purchased essential foods and macronutrients worth 10.7 million dollars, in response to alarming data on the prevalence of anemia in infants. As this nutritional crisis is confronted, it is hoped that international interventions and collaborations can alleviate the food and nutrition problems affecting the Cuban population.

Crisis of the health system

During 2022, Cuba's public health system faced an unprecedented crisis that led to the mass resignation of its staff. According to figures from the National Office of Statistics and Information (ONEI), more than 12,000 doctors left the Public Health System. The total fell from 106,131 physicians in 2021 to 94,066 at the end of 2022. This decline has had a direct impact on the doctor–patient ratio, increasing the number of inhabitants per doctor.

The Ministry of Public Health (MINSAP) also reported a decline in its professional staff. Of the 312,406 workers in this sector at the beginning of the year, only 281,098 remained at the end, a difference of 31,308 people. The crisis affected not only doctors but also other health professionals, such as nurses, dentists and technicians.

The lack of staff in Cuban hospitals has generated countless complaints from citizens, who suffer from the absence of specialists and face long lines and shortages of medical supplies when seeking proper treatment. While the Cuban regime sends hundreds of doctors on international missions, generating revenue for the state, the situation on the island is worsening.

One of the most notable cases was that of Alina Arcos Fernández-Brito, a doctor at the Calixto García Hospital in Havana. In a public statement, she announced her decision to leave her profession because of the lack of resources and tools to treat illnesses. She also expressed her dissatisfaction with a salary insufficient to "live with a minimum of dignity or decorum." This criticism resonates in the sector and reflects a recurring problem in the country.

Education

Main article: Education in Cuba

Current seat of the University of Havana, founded in 1728 by Dominican friars at a different location.

The Cuban educational system is supervised and managed through the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Higher Education. After independence was achieved, successive governments promoted education in Cuba. Although this sector never enjoyed ample resources, a public, free and compulsory primary education system was established.

In 1959 approximately a quarter of the population of Cuba (25%) was illiterate. Barely two years later, the revolutionary government carried out a massive campaign using a home-grown method that had been developed, Yo sí puedo. More than 700,000 Cubans had been taught to read and write. In 1962 the country was declared the first territory free of illiteracy in Latin America, which was recognized by UNESCO. The Cuban literacy method has since been adopted by more than 30 countries in the Latin American region and around the world.

Cuba has also achieved 100% schooling of children through at least nine grades. It has also achieved gender equality in school, meaning that both boys and girls have the same conditions to advance in their education, with the possibility of reaching university, which, being a right in the country, is free. In Cuba, the policy of giving priority attention to children has made it possible to eradicate the phenomenon of children living on the street. This situation is unique in the Latin American context, where millions of children still suffer deprivation, exploitation and labor in prostitution networks.

Luz y Caballero school in Colón, Cuba

Currently, education in Cuba is free at all levels, from primary, secondary, polytechnic and pre-university schools to the universities.

The University of Havana is a group of specialized faculties that provides the highest level of education to the students who have managed to gain admission. It is the most important and best-known center on the island, and it has events, bulletins and museums. There are also several high-level, prestigious university centers in each of the provinces. Their students are generally members of the Federation of University Students.

Before 1959 the country had only three universities:

• Havana (1728)
• Santiago de Cuba (1947)
• Santa Clara (1952)

After the triumph of the Cuban Revolution, the country has had dozens of university centers in all the provinces. The main seats are:

• Camagüey (1967)
• Matanzas (1972)
• Pinar del Río (1972)
• Holguín (1973)
• Granma (1976)
• Sancti Spíritus (1976)
• Ciego de Ávila (1978)
• Cienfuegos (1979)
• Guantánamo (1997)
• Las Tunas (2009)
• Artemisa (2012)
• Mayabeque (2012)

In May 2008, Cuba ranked first among the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean in the Education for All report prepared by UNESCO. It placed 23rd in the global ranking, which was led by Norway.

Universities

The following list shows the complete Webometrics 2021 Ranking Web of Universities for the 33 institutions that provide higher education in Cuba. Prepared by the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), this ranking scores the universities on 3 criteria:

• Academic excellence, 40% of the score: the percentage of the most-cited academic and scientific articles in 27 disciplines of the Scimago Lab database.
• Visibility of the impact of content in academic and scientific journals, 50% of the score.
• Top academic and scientific researchers, 10% of the score.

Webometrics 2021 World Ranking of Cuban Universities
National Ranking	World Ranking	University	Logo	Website	Location
1 3250 Marta Abreu Central University of Las Villas www.uclv.edu.cu/ CUB Santa Clara 2 3349 University of Havana www.uh.cu/ CUB Havana 3 3915 University of Oriente Santiago de Cuba www.uo.edu.cu/ CUB Santiago de Cuba 4 3920 José Antonio Echeverría Technological University of Havana wwwcujae.edu.cu/ CUB Havana 5 4852 University of Informatics Sciences www.uci.cu/ CUB Havana 6 4964 University of Pinar del Río www.upr.edu.cu/ CUB Pinar del Río 7 5087 University of Holguín www.uho.edu.cu CUB Holguín 8 5121 University of Matanzas www.umcc.cu/ CUB Matanzas 9 5137 University of Cienfuegos www.ucf.edu.cu/ CUB Cienfuegos 10 5386 Máximo Gómez Báez University of Ciego de Ávila www.unica.cu/ CUB Ciego de Ávila 11 6584 University of Granma www.udg.co.cu/ CUB Bayamo 12 6931 Ignacio Agramonte y Loynaz University of Camagüey www.reduc.edu.cu/ CUB Camagüey 13 7550 Higher Institute of Technologies and Applied Sciences www.instec.cu/ CUB Havana 14 7733 Dr. Antonio Núñez Jiménez University of Moa www.ismm.edu.cu/ CUB Moa 15 9690 José Martí Pérez University of Sancti Spíritus www.uniss.edu.cu/ CUB Sancti Spíritus 16 11778 University of Las Tunas - www.ult.edu.cu/ CUB Las Tunas 17 13905 Fructuoso Rodríguez Pérez Agrarian University of Havana www.unah.edu.cu/ CUB Ciego de Ávila 18 14031 National Institute of Agricultural Sciences www.inca.edu.cu/ CUB San José de las Lajas 19 14238 National Center for Agricultural Health www.censa.edu.cu/ Archived August 11, 2021, at the Wayback Machine CUB San José de las Lajas 20 15364 University of Guantánamo www.cug.co.cu/ CUB Guantánamo 21 16403 Higher Institute of Art (Havana) www.isa.cult.cu/ CUB Havana 22 17700 Higher Institute of International Relations www.isri.cu/ CUB Havana 23 21350 Higher Institute of Design www.isdi.co.cu/ CUB Havana 24 22360 Virtual Health University of Cuba www.uvs.sld.cu/ CUB Havana 25 22360 National School of Public Health www.ensap.sld.cu/ CUB Havana 26 24026 Center for Cybernetics Applied to Medicine www.cecam.sld.cu/ CUB Havana 27 26461 Manuel Fajardo University of Physical Culture and Sports Sciences www.uccfd.cu/ CUB Havana 28 26588 University of Artemisa www.ua.uart.edu.cu/ CUB Artemisa 29 26853 Jesús Montané Oropesa University of the Isle of Youth www.uij.edu.cu/ CUB Nueva Gerona 30 28182 Raúl González Sánchez Faculty of Stomatology www.facest.sld.cu/ CUB Havana 31 29235 Higher School of State and Government Cadres www.esceg.cu/ CUB Havana 32 29864 Center for Advanced Studies of Cuba www.cea.cu/ CUB Havana 33 30229 University of Medical Sciences of Holguín www.ucmho.hlg.sld.cu/ CUB Holguín
References CSIC University Ranking 2021/Cuba Scimago LAB data

Main urban centers

Main article: List of cities in Cuba

Havana, capital and most populous city of Cuba.

Havana is located on the northwestern coast of the island. It is the capital and main city of Cuba, as well as its cultural and economic hub. It has 2.1 million inhabitants according to the latest population census, carried out in 2012. Its historic center is a World Heritage Site.

Another twelve cities have more than one hundred thousand inhabitants: Santiago de Cuba, Camagüey, Holguín, Guantánamo, Santa Clara, Las Tunas, Bayamo, Manzanillo, Cienfuegos (a World Heritage Site), Pinar del Río, Matanzas, Ciego de Ávila and Sancti Spíritus.

Santiago de Cuba is located at the southeastern end of the island. It is the country's second city in economic, cultural and demographic importance, and the historic center of the east of the country. It has 431,000 inhabitants.

Holguín lies in the north of the east of the country. It is a city of 287,000 inhabitants. Nearby are white-sand, warm-water beaches such as Guardalavaca, Pesquero, Playa Esmeralda and others that are of great tourist interest.

Camagüey lies in the center-east of the country. It is a traditional city whose historic center is a World Heritage Site. It has 301,000 inhabitants.

Migration

Cuban festivity held in New Jersey.

Some two and a half million Cubans currently live abroad. Cuba was a receiver of immigrants until 1958, but now almost 20% of its population lives outside the island for personal, political and economic reasons, among others. The main destinations are the United States, Spain, Italy, Mexico, Canada, Venezuela, Chile and Uruguay.

The Cuban migration law required Cuban citizens to obtain a permit from the Ministry of the Interior both to enter and to leave the national territory. It was eliminated in January 2013, becoming one of the reforms most desired by the population and applied by the government of Raúl Castro. However, there are still restrictions on foreign travel for professionals such as those in the medical sector, who must wait about 5 years to travel abroad. Travel documents also carry prohibitive prices, 100 dollars in a country where the average salary was 879 pesos (35 dollars) per month in 2019.

One of the articles of the new law states that the state may claim the right to determine which Cuban citizen may leave or enter the country, basing this criterion on national security. It thereby establishes the legal framework to prevent any citizen who may be considered a political dissident from leaving or entering Cuba. It should be noted, however, that for the time being, prominent human rights activists on the island have recently been able to travel by virtue of the new effects of the Migration Law. At the same time, other dissidents have had their attempts to travel rejected by the authorities.

Another sensitive issue for the government of Cuba is its relationship with the communities of Cubans living outside its borders, given the important role these could play in the political and socioeconomic development of Cuba.

Religion

Main article: Religion in Cuba

The religious affiliation of Cuba is as follows:

• 40% Catholic
• 5% Evangelical
• 30% Santería (a set of African beliefs)
• 25% no religion

The predominant religion is Catholic Christianity. There are also various Protestant denominations, such as Evangelicals, Baptists, Adventists, Jehovah's Witnesses, Methodists, Presbyterians, etc. Alongside these is Santería, or Regla de Ocha, which belongs to the Yoruba religion.

The Catholic Church arrived in Cuba with the first conquistadors and was the most widespread. Most Cubans have been baptized, although active participation is much lower.

There are numerous Catholic churches throughout the country. In the capital they include:

• the Cathedral of Havana
• the Church of the Sacred Heart (Jesuit)
• the Church of El Carmen (Carmelite)
• the Church of the Holy Spirit
• the church of the Virgin of Regla
• the church of San Lázaro in El Rincón (San Lázaro)
• the church of the Charity of El Cobre in Havana

Outside the capital is the sanctuary-basilica of Our Lady of Charity of El Cobre in the province of Santiago de Cuba. These are only a few examples. The church of Remedios is a jewel of Baroque art, with an altarpiece plated in gold.

After the appointment of Cardinal Jaime Ortega and the visit of Pope John Paul II, there was an opening of the media. December 25 was declared a holiday, and processions have been authorized during Holy Week and on the feast of Our Lady of Charity of El Cobre on September 8.

It is worth noting that Cuba has been visited by three Catholic popes in less than twenty years: John Paul II in 1998, Benedict XVI in 2012 and Francis in 2015. Over the years, numerous leaders of other religions and congregations have also visited the island.

Havana Cathedral.

After the triumph of the revolution of 1959, a policy of official atheism was established in Cuba, under which the Cuban government discouraged the practice of any religious worship. From 1992, after the visit of the Pope, Castro's anti-religious policy began to relax. Article 42, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of religious belief, was added to that year's Constitution.

As a result of the slave trade, which went on for several centuries, various religious practices were introduced into Cuba during the colonial period. They corresponded to the different peoples who arrived from Africa through the traffic in human beings. Since then, the Hispanic and the African have been the two main ethnocultural trunks of Cuban nationality. Other cultures also converge in it (Caribbean, American, Chinese and those of the rest of Europe), through a complex process of transculturation and racial mixing that has resulted in a sui generis composition.

From Yoruba culture arose the so-called Regla de Ocha, popularly known as Santería. Its worship centers on a pantheon of deities (orishas), each invested with different myths, attributes and powers. Among the most important are Olofin, Olorun and Oloddumare, as supreme powers. Closer to believers are Changó, Yemayá, Obatalá, Ochún and Elegguá, among others.

In Cuba, the worship of the African orishas brought together the different deities of the regions from which the slaves came into a single religious body, the Regla de Ocha. People who practice Santería are called santeros, and the priests of the religion are babalawos. There are also santeras, who cannot hold a higher rank such as the priesthood. The most systematized and complex form of this expression is the cult of Ifá, a deity whose main attribute is divination, upheld by the highest priestly authorities, the babalawos.

Derived from the practices of the peoples subject to the Kingdom of Kongo, the so-called Regla Conga, Palo Monte or Palo Mayombe is practiced in Cuba. It is a set of religious forms centered on the worship of natural forces. Since no traces of them have been found in Africa, many researchers have concluded that it took shape on the island, where it is very strong.

Holidays

Date	Name
January 1	Liberation Day. Anniversary of the triumph of the Revolution
Variable date	Good Friday
May 1	International Workers' Day
July 26	Day of National Rebellion. Anniversary of the attack on the Moncada Barracks
October 10	Beginning of the wars of independence
December 25	Christmas

Another expression of African origin, found in the western part of the country, is the secret male society Abakuá, also known as ñañiguismo, which emerged at the beginning of the 20th century. Abakuá societies have created structures that span several local groups. There are century-old temples in Cienfuegos, Palmira, and in several towns of Matanzas and Havana, which unite large groups of priests into families. More recently, the Yoruba Cultural Association of Cuba was created, bringing together a certain number of babalawos or santeros of the Ifá cult.

Another religious expression widespread in Cuban society is Spiritism. It arose in the United States and was systematized in Europe, as a religious version of American pragmatism and of philosophical empiricism. It reached Cuba in the mid-20th century and began to diversify into several strands, mixed with elements of the religions of African origin and of Christianity, and with a marked reference to everyday life.

Protestant Christianity is also present on the island. It arrived in the country relatively late, hindered by colonial provisions that protected the Catholic Church. This faith became established on the island during the first fifty years of the republic, with the support of American missionary boards, from which Cuban Protestantism derives. It reproduced the diversity of denominations typical of American society. It was the Mambises who had emigrated as a result of the war against Spain who, on returning from the United States, brought the faith from a Protestant rather than a Catholic perspective. Thus Protestantism arose in Cuba at the hands of Cubans who were fighting against colonizing Spain.

If we look, many of them ended up being pastors of these first churches.

However, today they lack legislation that would allow them to build or buy new premises to be used as parsonages or meeting centers. Despite being recognized, they are discriminated against.

Other religious practices include Judaism, among people belonging to the Hebrew community, which has several synagogues. There are also philosophical-religious and Eastern-oriented groups, such as the Theosophical Society and the Baháʼí community, as well as minority groups of yoga, Buddhism and Confucianism.

Cuban Freemasonry has more than 29,000 members, registered in 314 lodges spread throughout the national territory.

Culture

Main article: Culture of Cuba

Culture in Cuba falls under the broad umbrella of the Ministry of Culture. The ministry was founded in 1976, as part of the process of rectification of errors carried out at the First Congress of the PCC in 1975. Its founding put an end to anti-cultural phenomena such as the infamous Quinquenio gris ("Gray Five-Year Period"), which did so much damage to Cuban culture in those years. The first head of the ministry was the prominent Cuban intellectual Armando Hart.

The Casa de la Trova in Santiago de Cuba.

Music and dance

Traditional Cuban genres include the Contradanza, Danzón, Guaracha, Son cubano, Bolero, Mambo, Chachachá, Rumba, Guaguancó and Timba, among others. During the 20th century many dance rhythms became popular, among them the Danzón, the Guaracha, the Mambo and the Chachachá.

At the beginning of the 20th century, a musical movement now known as the Vieja Trova developed, with exponents such as Sindo Garay, Manuel Corona and María Teresa Vera, among others. After 1959, a cultural movement developed among the youth of the time that came to be known as the Nueva Trova, with the so-called traditional Trova (the "old" one) as its earlier reference point. Its best-known exponents are Celia Cruz, La Lupe, Camila Cabello, Silvio Rodríguez and Pablo Milanés, with many others also standing out.

National Ballet School of Cuba

Within Cuban country music, the best-known and most internationally performed piece is the Guantanamera, composed by Joseíto Fernández, with verses by José Martí.

Today Cuban music is also known throughout the world under the name salsa. Salsa originated in New York owing to the presence of immigrant musicians from all over Latin America. Many Cuban rhythms are still danced today and are practiced in the houses of culture. Among the most danced at present are the conga, the Rueda de casino and timba, not only in Latin America but throughout the world.

Cuba is also notable for the quality of its classical ballet performers and teachers. The National Ballet of Cuba, directed by Alicia Alonso, has won important awards and ovations internationally.

There are also the National Folkloric Ballet of Cuba, founded at the beginning of the Revolution, which performs various dances of African origin, and the Spanish Ballet of Cuba, which cultivates dances of Spanish origin.

Literature and poetry

Main article: Cuban literature

Spanish-language literature in Cuban territory began with the Spanish conquest and colonization. The conquistadors brought with them chroniclers who wrote about and described important events, although from Spanish points of view and for a Spanish readership. The most important chronicler to arrive in Cuba in the 16th century was Friar Bartolomé de las Casas, author of "Historia de las Indias," among other works.

Martí Library in Santa Clara, Cuba

The first literary work written on the island dates from the 17th century. In 1608, Silvestre de Balboa y Troya de Quesada (1563–1647) published Espejo de Paciencia, an epic-historical poem in royal octaves. It narrated the kidnapping of Bishop Friar Juan de las Cabezas Altamirano by the pirate Gilberto Girón.

The national poet of Cuba is Nicolás Guillén. Other important poets include José María Heredia, Juan Cristóbal Nápoles Fajardo (El Cucalambé), José Jacinto Milanés, Juan Clemente Zenea, Julián del Casal, Gabriel de la Concepción Valdés (Plácido), Rubén Martínez Villena, Jesús Orta Ruiz (El indio Naborí), José Ángel Buesa, Fayad Jamís, Eliseo Diego, Carilda Oliver Labra and Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda, among many others.

Among the writers, names stand out such as Cirilo Villaverde, Miguel de Carrión, Renée Méndez Capote, Alejo Carpentier, Dora Alonso, José Lezama Lima, Dulce María Loynaz, Luis Rogelio Nogueras, Fina García Marruz, Cintio Vitier, Reinaldo Arenas, Heberto Padilla and Guillermo Cabrera Infante, or more recently Daína Chaviano, Zoé Valdés and Leonardo Padura.

Since February 1991, the International Book Fair has been held annually in Havana. Since 2002 it has extended to the rest of the country's provinces.

It is important to add that José Martí, the Cuban national hero, was a distinguished poet and writer. In his own words, the Nicaraguan poet Rubén Darío considered him a master.

Architecture

Main article: Architecture of Cuba

The Capitol of Havana, inaugurated in 1929. It was the seat of the Senate of the Republic until 1959 and is currently the seat of the National Assembly.

Architecture in Cuba was expressed mainly in the colonial period, which brought the culture of Spain with its Baroque influence. The first towns consisted of a church surrounded by various houses. These houses had an interior or central courtyard and were covered with iron grilles. There are magnificent religious buildings such as the Convent of San Francisco in Havana. In addition, large forts were built for defense against attacks by pirates and buccaneers.

In the republican period, large buildings were constructed, such as El Capitolio, modeled on the one in Washington. Others include the Focsa and the Habana Hilton, later the Habana Libre. One of the most prominent Cuban architects of the second half of the 20th century was Antonio Quintana Simonetti (1919–1993).

After the triumph of the Revolution, architecture came under strong Soviet influence, with its obsession with symmetry and saving space. Entire neighborhoods were built in the style of the workers' districts of Moscow or Minsk. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, architecture received more diverse currents. There was a boom in 5-star hotels with impressive glass-and-steel façades, in the style of the modern skyscrapers of Manhattan or of other Latin American metropolises such as Mexico City or Caracas. A process of restoration has also been carried out in the city's old historic center, which has great architectural treasures of all currents and trends, from the Baroque to eclectic art.

Emilio Bacardí Museum in Santiago de Cuba

Visual arts

Main article: Visual arts of Cuba

Cuban painting began to stand out at the beginning of the 20th century. The first school of plastic arts in Cuba was the San Alejandro National Academy of Fine Arts, founded in 1818 and still in existence. The leading painters include:

• Wilfredo Lam, whose works are exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and at the Reina Sofía Museum in Madrid
• Guillermo Collazo
• Armando Menocal
• Mariano Tobeñas
• Fidelio Ponce de León
• Mariano Rodríguez
• René Portocarrero
• Amelia Peláez
• Víctor Manuel
• Carlos Enríquez

Important contemporary painters include Zaida del Río, Vicente Hernández Hernández, Tomás Sánchez, Humberto Castro, José Bedia, Manuel Mendive, Arturo Cuenca, Flora Fong, Nelson Domínguez, Roberto Fabelo, Pedro Pablo Oliva, Alexis Leyva (Kcho), Maykel Herrera, Esteban Machado Díaz and others recognized in collections of Cuban art.

In sculpture, the names of José Villalta Saavedra, Juan José Sicre, Rita Longa, Gilma Madera, Florencio Gelabert, Alberto Lescay and José Ramón Villa Soberón stand out, among others. In photography, notable names include Alberto Korda, author of the most famous photograph of Che Guevara and many other notable works, and the photographer and documentary filmmaker Roberto Chile.

Cuba also has a very rich and long tradition of comic artists and cartoonists. In the first half of the 20th century, the painter Eduardo Abela stands out among them. After the revolutionary triumph of 1959, new generations of comic artists emerged, such as Adigio Benítez, Juan Padrón and Jorge Oliver, etc. Among the younger generations is Maikel García, among many others.

Pharmaceutical Museum of Matanzas, Cuba

Museums

Cuba has a wide range of museums. Notable ones in Havana include:

• the National Museum of Fine Arts, with the largest collection of Cuban art
• the Museum of the Revolution, which gathers material and collections related to the Cuban Revolution
• the National Museum of Decorative Arts
• the Havana Club Rum Museum
• the Napoleonic Museum

Trinidad is home to the Romantic Museum, with a collection of objects from the 19th century. Matanzas has the Pedro Esquerré Museum / Gallery of contemporary art and the Pharmaceutical Museum. In El Vedado in Havana is the headquarters of the Ludwig Foundation of Cuba, promoted by the German collectors Peter and Irene Ludwig. It is a non-governmental, non-profit organization for the dissemination and protection of Cuban art.

Cinema

Main article: Cinema of Cuba

Film activity in Cuba was relatively meager before 1959. The first Cuban feature film, still a silent film, was Manuel García o el rey de los campos de Cuba, shot in 1913. The melodramatic feature film Romance del palmar, featuring the Cuban vedette Rita Montaner, was relatively famous in Latin America.

Cuban Institute of Cinematographic Art and Industry

From 1959 there was a turnaround in film activity. Directors of great artistic impact, such as Tomás Gutiérrez Alea, began working in cinema. Other prominent directors are Julio García Espinosa, Sergio Giral, Daniel Díaz Torres, Fernando Pérez, Juan Carlos Tabío, Gerardo Chijona, Juan Carlos Cremata, Ernesto Daranas, etc. The documentary filmmakers Santiago Álvarez, Octavio Cortázar and Rigoberto López also stand out.

Despite the scarcity of resources, Cuban cinema has shown artistic quality and a constant social commitment. Among the most acclaimed films, held in special regard by both specialized critics and the public, are:

• La muerte de un burócrata
• Memorias del subdesarrollo
• Las doce sillas
• Retrato de Teresa
• the more recent Fresa y Chocolate (1993, nominated for the Oscars in 1994)

Other feature films with an excellent reception from audiences and critics have been Cecilia, Lucía and La bella del Alhambra, the last by the also renowned director Enrique Pineda Barnet.

More recently, the films Amor vertical, Guantanamera, Barrio Cuba, Viva Cuba, Boleto al paraíso, Juan de los Muertos and Conducta were successful. The unanimous welcome given to the documentary Suite Habana may be considered extraordinary. It describes the difficult situation of ordinary people facing the extraordinary shortages and hardships the island endured during the "Special Period" in the 1990s.

Among the island's film festivals, the International Festival of New Latin American Cinema of Havana stands out; it has been held annually since 1979. Another is the International Festival of Poor Cinema of Gibara, founded by the filmmaker Humberto Solás in 2003.

Cuisine

Main article: Cuisine of Cuba

The cuisine of Cuba is a creole cuisine, the result of the fusion of Spanish, African and Caribbean cooking. Cuban recipes share the wisdom of combining spices and the blended techniques of Spanish and African cooking, with certain Caribbean influences in spices and flavors.

Cuba libre.

Rice and beans, typical Cuban cuisine.

There are influences from the African slaves, who mostly cultivated sugarcane on the plantations, while in the cities they generally constituted a minority. The tobacco plantations were inhabited mainly by poor Spanish peasants, above all from the Canary Islands.

The eastern part of the island also received massive numbers of French, Haitian and Caribbean immigrants, mainly during the Haitian Revolution. It also received seasonal workers for the sugarcane harvest, above all Spaniards, during the 1950s. As a result, Cuban cuisine became something locally traditional. Among the most commonly eaten foods are rice, viandas (such as the plantain), legumes and pork. Typical dishes include congrí, made with bean broth and rice.

There are tamales, made from corn (corn has been used since the time of the Mesoamerican aborigines). There is also the dish known as "casabe" (made from cassava starch), and tostones and mariquitas made with fried plantains. At festivities, the most coveted and common dish is the typical pork roasted on a spit over a slow fire. Another dish that cannot be missing from typical Cuban food is caldosa, a dish based on corn, meat and viandas that is made on holidays and at parties.

"Congrí" rice accompanied by fried plantain and pork loin.

Handicrafts

Typical Cuban porrón.

In Cuba, artisans whose work is of a high standard are grouped as members of the Cuban Association of Artisan Artists (ACAA). Members receive a card according to their craft, with the approval of the national executive, made up of distinguished artisans and Cuban visual artists. This guarantees the marketing and promotion of their works through cultural institutions such as the Cuban Fund of Cultural Assets, which organizes and promotes events in the country and abroad. These artisans work independently in their own workshops and are supported by the political and economic leadership of the country; they are regarded as artistic creators.

Handicrafts are varied and are grouped into seven artistic forms. They have been closely linked to the development of international tourism, as well as the national market. They have played an important role in recovering national identity, since the effort has been directed at artistically recreating popular values and customs in their designs and materials. They also generate an economic contribution to the country's development. The artisans produce works of excellent quality, demonstrating great mastery of the craft, and many of them have received various national and international distinctions that make them great artisans. They are faithful exponents of Cuban culture.

Its highest artistic showcase in the country is the International Handicrafts Fair (FIART), held every December. It awards the FIART, Seal of Excellence and Life's Work prizes, and in earlier editions the UNESCO Prize. The fair is convened by the "National Center for the Development of Handicrafts," together with other institutions of the country. Cuba holds the vice-presidency for handicrafts for Latin America and the Caribbean, where each year the number of artisans grows in the quality of their works, leaving somewhat behind, without losing sight of it, their repetitive character, thus becoming an artistic craftsmanship representative within the plastic arts.

Science and technology

Main article: Academy of Sciences of Cuba

Felipe Poey y Aloy (1798–1891).

Once a Cuban cultural identity had taken firm shape, at the beginning of the 19th century, scientists emerged who devoted themselves to the most diverse branches of knowledge. Notable among them were the researchers who dedicated their efforts to medicine or to nature. The exact sciences, however, did not have great specialists until well into the 20th century, long after the triumph of the Cuban Revolution. Everything related to science, technology and the environment is regulated and managed by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment (CITMA).

Pioneers in medicine

Medicine, which has a rich tradition in Cuba, had its great precursor in Tomás Romay (1764–1849). Romay revolutionized clinical medicine on the Island, using the most modern methods learned at European universities. He was also the one who introduced the smallpox vaccine, based on the teachings of Edward Jenner (1749–1823).

Toward the middle of the 19th century, the figure of the physician, researcher and patriot Vicente Antonio de Castro y Bermúdez stood out. Besides organizing the network of separatist Masonic lodges of the GOCA, Vicente de Castro introduced general anesthesia on the Island and was one of the pioneers of its use in Latin America. De Castro also contributed novel methodologies for angiological surgery and ophthalmic surgery.

The Cuban naturalist Felipe Poey y Aloy achieved worldwide recognition. He made substantial contributions to the study of the fishes of the western Atlantic through "Ictiología cubana", his masterwork, which is still used by specialists in Cuba and the Caribbean in general. In that work, Poey described more than 160 species of marine fishes as new to science. Poey also contributed to the study of Cuban insects, particularly of the order Lepidoptera (butterflies), of fossil mammals, and even to the field of the island's geology ("Nomenclatura geológica"). A century later, the notable scientist Darío José Guitart Manday (1922–2000) would follow in his footsteps; he is considered the founder of modern marine biology in Cuba and one of the great naturalists of the Caribbean area in the 20th century.

Carlos Juan Finlay (1833–1915), physician and scientist.

Carlos J. Finlay and Aedes aegypti

One of the most outstanding figures in the country is the physician and epidemiologist Carlos Juan Finlay, the true discoverer of the Aedes aegypti mosquito as the transmitting agent of yellow fever. This discovery, first published in 1881, was crucial for the eradication, or at least the control, of this terrible disease.

Years later, the American military physician and epidemiologist Walter Reed would be responsible for disseminating and broadening the application of this discovery, and the discovery was attributed to him for decades. Finlay's name honors numerous Cuban scientific and medical institutions, including a general military hospital and a biotechnological research center considered one of the most advanced in Cuba and in Latin America in general.

Biotechnology

After the triumph of the Cuban Revolution in 1959, the expanding education policy allowed a large number of university graduates to be trained, in figures that may even be considered excessively high in comparison with the population and in contrast with the modest economic development of the Island.

Beginning in the 1970s, the government of Cuba devoted ample resources to scientific development, and in particular to biotechnology. In keeping with the high level of development reached in the medical sciences, most Cuban biotechnological research has been directed at the production of vaccines and other medicines.

The so-called "Western Havana Scientific Hub" includes most of these institutions, which are widely recognized by the World Health Organization and among which are:

• the Institute of Molecular Immunology
• the Pedro Kourí Institute of Tropical Medicine
• the Neuroscience Center
• the Finlay Institute
• the Immunoassay Center
• the Institute of Animal Science
• the National Center for Scientific Research
• the Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology
• the Center for Medical and Surgical Research
• the National Coordinating Center for Clinical Trials

Among the internationally prominent achievements of Cuban biotechnology are the vaccines against hepatitis B, type B meningococcal fever, tetanus, the pentavalent vaccine (until then produced only by France) and a very recently created therapeutic vaccine against advanced lung cancer.

Equally recognized is the work of Misael Bordier (1946–2005) with the venom of the blue scorpion (Rhopalurus junceus), which serves to combat cancer; starting in 2003, free distribution of the experimental solution began to anyone who gave informed consent. It was also distributed free of charge in Mexico. Bordier expanded his experiments and soon found that the animals' tumors decreased in size.

In the 1990s, at the Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology in Havana, researchers succeeded in synthesizing a recombinant version of the factor, which is in an experimental phase and has received the name Heberprot-p, and which the Spanish company "Praxis Pharmaceutical" is putting through clinical trials (phases II onward) under the name "PX070101" for subsequent commercialization in Europe.

The Academy of Sciences of Cuba.

Pharmaceutical laboratories

Cuba also has a network of pharmaceutical laboratories that produce medicines of practically every class, all classified as generics, with the exception of dietary supplements and combined beauty and health products, in accordance with the Cuban state's non-competitive and community-based policy for public health. Cuban medical pharmacology, although it forms part of the Western "school," which is based on chemical and biochemical studies, has broadened its spectrum over the last two decades. There is an incipient development of green medicine, as well as of techniques of Asian origin such as acupuncture and acupressure, although the segment of the population that makes use of these medical alternatives is very small.

Environmental legislation

Main article: CITMA

Cuban scientific activity declined somewhat during the 1990s, owing to the severe economic crisis that struck the island following the disintegration of the Soviet Union and the European socialist bloc. However, in the 21st century the policy of encouraging research has been resumed, with the collaboration of international institutions such as UNESCO and the UNDP.

One of the notable milestones of the new century has been the implementation of environmental policies much stricter than those observed up to the 1980s, including a solid environmental law, under whose umbrella environmental impact studies and assessments of the same name are carried out, with a view to reducing or mitigating the impacts of the indispensable industrial or tourism development works that the Cuban economy needs in order to advance.

The development of environmental legislation has been accompanied by intensive publicity campaigns of environmental education, with large-scale projects such as University for All, a higher education program delivered through Cuban Television.

Computing

Main article: Telecommunications in Cuba

As for computing, in February 2009 a GNU/Linux distribution created by professors and students of the University of Informatics Sciences began to be developed in Cuba. This distribution, called Nova, is expected to gradually replace proprietary software.

Every educational center has at least one personal computer, but Internet connectivity is very limited, both in terms of the population's access and in bandwidth. In the latter respect, a strong influence is exerted by the prohibition on Cuba connecting to the modern optical fiber cabling manufactured by American companies, because of the laws implemented around the United States blockade against Cuba.

This situation is being alleviated by the installation of a similar submarine cable linking Cuba and Venezuela, which provides the island with relatively acceptable bandwidth.

Economic difficulties

Cuban scientific activity has historically been limited in its development by economic problems. Meager salaries and the talent-recruitment policies of developed countries generate a significant exodus of researchers to countries of the so-called First World, or else to other branches of the Cuban economy.

Level of excellence

The main reason Cuba has reached a level of excellence in scientific research, particularly in the area of health, is, according to various experts, the fact that the Cuban government has prioritized education and public health in its policies since 1959.

Sports

Main article: Sport in Cuba

The Cuban boxer and three-time Olympic champion Teófilo Stevenson (1952–2012), signing autographs in 1985.

In 1959, the National Institute of Sports, Physical Education and Recreation (INDER) was created with the aim of promoting the practice of sport, which until then had been neglected by most of Cuban society. Professional sport, regarded as a means "to enrich a few at the expense of the greater number," has been prohibited in Cuba since 1962. However, the measure led to the defection of several renowned Cuban athletes who were interested in the salaries offered to professional athletes by Western countries. Even so, Cuba has been achieving ever greater results in the field of sport: although it had not won a single Olympic gold medal between 1906 and 1968, it won 31 between 1972 and 1992.

Cuba excels in sports such as wrestling, baseball, boxing, judo, athletics and volleyball. It has taken part in 20 editions of the Summer Olympic Games. The Cuban delegation's first appearance at these games took place at Paris 1900. The first Cuban and Latin American athlete to win a medal at the Olympic Games was the fencer Ramón Fonst (1883–1959), at Paris 1900. Today, the multi-sport arena in Havana bears his name as a fitting tribute.

The island holds 18th place in the all-time Olympic medal table and second among the countries of the Americas, surpassed only by the U.S. Its best placings were third at St. Louis 1904, fourth at Moscow 1980 and fifth at Barcelona 1992. In addition, several Cuban athletes have been Olympic champions three consecutive times. Among them are Félix Savón and Teófilo Stevenson in boxing, Regla Torres and Mireya Luis in volleyball, or, more recently, Mijaín López in wrestling.

The Cuban athlete Javier Sotomayor (1967–) holds the world record of 2.45 m in the high jump.

The country has hosted numerous international sports tournaments and competitions, among them the 1991 Pan American Games, held in Havana, with Santiago de Cuba as a secondary venue.

In addition, numerous national sporting events are held every year. Notable among them is the Capablanca In Memoriam Tournament, in honor of the Cuban chess player José Raúl Capablanca, world chess champion from 1921 to 1927. It is worth noting that Lázaro Bruzón and Leinier Domínguez, among others, also stand out in this discipline today.

Likewise, the country holds the National Football Championship (since 1912), the Cuban National Series in baseball (since 1962), the Superior Basketball League (since 1993), the "Giraldo Córdoba Cardín" Championship and the "Playa Girón" Cup, both in boxing, as well as the Road Cycling Championships, Time Trial Cycling Championships and the Tour of Cuba cycling race, the latter of an international character.

The country has won a total of 220 medals at the summer editions: 77 gold, 69 silver and 74 bronze. At the Pan American Games it holds second place in the all-time medal table (first is the U.S.). However, it holds first position in the all-time medal table of the Central American and Caribbean Games, which it won uninterruptedly between 1970 and 1998, as well as in the editions of 1930, 1946, 2006 and 2014. It hosted those games in the 1930 and 1982 editions.

Cuba also stands out in baseball, its national sport. The Caribbean nation won 24 gold medals, six silver and two bronze at the world cups of this sport held between 1938 and 2005. As for football in international events, Cuba's best result at senior level and on the world stage came at the 1938 FIFA World Cup, in which it reached the round of 16, being finally defeated by Sweden and finishing in 7th place. At youth level, it has taken part in several world tournaments, with modest results. At the Pan American Games, the second place obtained at the 1979 Games stands out, after losing the final against Brazil.

• Cuban Olympic Committee
• Cuba at the Olympics
• Cuba at the Pan American Games
• Cuba at the Central American and Caribbean Games
• Cuba national baseball team
• Cuba national football team
• Cuban Basketball Federation
• Cuban Motorsport and Karting Federation

See also

• National parks of Cuba
• List of rulers of Cuba
• List of colonial governors of Cuba
• Captaincy General of Cuba
• History of Cuba
• Category:Cuba
• Politics of Cuba

Bibliography

• Emilio Roig de Leuchsenring, Médicos y medicina en Cuba. Historia, biografía, costumbrismo, Academia de ciencias, 1965

External links

Wikimedia Atlas of Cuba

• Website of the Government of the Republic of Cuba.
• National Statistics Office Archived 2011-02-26 at the Wayback Machine Body responsible for generating and disseminating statistics on Cuba.