CUBA
GEOGRAPHY
Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an isle located in the northern Caribbean where the Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Ocean meet. It borders with the Yucatán Peninsula (Mexico) on the west, both the U.S. state of Florida and the Bahamas on the north, Haiti on the east and both Jamaica and the Cayman Islands on the south. The Country includes the island of Cuba as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos, Havana is the largest city and capital; other major cities include Santiago de Cuba and Camagüey. The area of the Republic of Cuba is 110,860 square kilometers (109,884 square kilometers without the territorial waters). The island of Cuba is the largest island in Cuba and in the Caribbean, with an area of 105,006 square kilometers, and the second-most populous after Hispaniola, with over 11 million inhabitants. Culturally, Cuba is considered part of Latin America. It is a multiethnic country whose people, culture and customs derive from diverse origins, including the aboriginal Taíno and Ciboney peoples, the long period of Spanish colonialism, the introduction of African slaves and a close relationship with the Soviet Union in the Cold War. Cuba is a sovereign state and a founding member of the United Nations, the G77, the Non-Aligned Movement, the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States, ALBA and Organization of American States. According to the Human Development Index, Cuba has high human development and is ranked the eighth highest in North America, though 67th in the world. It also ranks highly in some metrics of national performance, including health care and education. It is the only country in the world to meet the conditions of sustainable development put forth by the WWF. It has currently one of the world’s only planned economies, and its economy is dominated by the exports of sugar, tobacco, coffee and skilled labour. Historians believe the name Cuba comes from the Taíno language the exact meaning of the name is unclear. It may be translated either as ‘where fertile land is abundant’ (cubao), or ‘great place’ (coabana).
HISTORY
Spanish colonization and rule (1492–1898)
Before the arrival of the Spanish, Cuba was inhabited by three distinct tribes of indigenous peoples of the Americas. The Taíno (an Arawak people), the Guanahatabey and the Ciboney people. Columbus landed on Cuba’s northeastern coast on October 1492, he claimed the island for the new Kingdom of Spain and named it Isla Juana after Juan, Prince of Asturias. In 1511, the first Spanish settlement was founded by Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar at Baracoa.
Independence movements
Full independence from Spain was the goal of a rebellion in 1868 led by a sugar planter, who freed his slaves to fight with him for an independent Cuba. The rebellion resulted in a prolonged conflict known as the Ten Years’ War. The United States declined to recognize the new Cuban government, although many European and Latin American nations did so. In 1878, the Pact of Zanjón ended the conflict, with Spain promising greater autonomy to Cuba. Slavery in Cuba was finally abolished in 1886.
Republic (1902–1959)
First years (1902–1925)
Spain and the United States declared war on each other in late April 1898 when the U.S. battleship Maine, which was sent to protect U.S. interests, exploded in Havana harbor and sank. After the Spanish–American War, Spain and the United States signed the Treaty of Paris (1898), by which Spain ceded Puerto Rico, the Philippines, and Guam to the United States for the sum of US$20 million and Cuba became a protectorate of the United States. Cuba gained formal independence from the U.S. on 20 May 1902, as the Republic of Cuba. Several elections were made in those years in which the U.S. continued intervening.
Revolution of 1933–1940
In September 1933, the Sergeants’ Revolt, led by Sergeant Fulgencio Batista, overthrew Cespedes, the last elected president. A five member executive committee (the Pentarchy of 1933) was chosen to head a provisional government but the provisional president resigned in 1934, leaving the way clear for Batista, who dominated Cuban politics for the next 25 years, at first through a series of puppet-presidents. On balance, during the period 1933–1940 Cuba suffered from fragile politic structures and in the militaristic and repressive policies of Batista as Head of the Army.
Constitution of 1940
A new constitution was adopted in 1940, which engineered radical progressive ideas, including the right to labour and health care. Batista was elected president in the same year, holding the post until 1944. His government carried out major social reforms. Several members of the Communist Party held office under his administration. Ramon Grau San Martin, the winner of the election in 1944, further corroded the base of the already teetering legitimacy of the Cuban political system, by undermining the deeply all segments of society, and created a middle class in most urban areas. After finishing his term in 1944 Batista lived in Florida but he returned to Cuba to run for president in 1952. Facing certain electoral defeat, he led a military coup that preempted the election. Back in power, and receiving financial, military, and logistical support from the United States government, Batista suspended the 1940 Constitution and revoked most political liberties, including the right to strike. He then aligned with the wealthiest landowners who owned the largest sugar plantations, and presided over a stagnating economy that widened the gap between rich and poor Cubans. Between 1933 and 1958, Cuba extended economic regulations enormously, causing economic problems. Unemployment became a problem as graduates entering the workforce could not find jobs. Batista stayed in power until he was forced into exile in December 1958.
Revolution and Communist party rule (1959–present)
In 1956, Fidel Castro started a rebellion against the Batista government. By late 1958 the rebels had broken out of the Sierra Maestra and launched a general popular flawed, though not entirely ineffectual, Congress and Supreme Court. Carlos Prío Socarrás, a protégé of Grau, became president insurrection. Batista went into exile with his in 1948. The two terms of the Auténtico Party brought an influx of investment, which fuelled an economic boom, raised living standards for family in the isle of Estoril, near Lisbon. Fidel Castro’s forces entered the capital on 8 January 1959. The liberal Manuel Urrutia Lleó became the provisional president. From 1959 to 1966 Cuban insurgents fought a six year rebellion against the Castro government but they got crushed. The United States government initially reacted favourably to the Cuban revolution, seeing it as part of a movement to bring democracy to Latin America. Castro’s legalization of the Communist party and the hundreds of executions of Batista agents, policemen and soldiers that followed caused a deterioration in the relationship between the two countries. The promulgation of the Agrarian Reform Law, expropriating thousands of acres of farmland (including from large U.S. landholders), further worsened relations. In response, between 1960 and 1964 the U.S. imposed a range of sanctions, eventually including a total ban on trade between the countries and a freeze on all Cuban-owned assets in the U.S. In February 1960, Castro signed a commercial agreement with Soviet Vice-Premier Anastas Mikoyan. In March 1960, U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower gave his approval to a CIA plan to arm and train a group of Cuban refugees to overthrow the Castro regime. The invasion (known as the Bay of Pigs Invasion) took place on 14 April 1961, during the term of President John F. Kennedy. About 1,400 Cuban exiles disembarked at the Bay of Pigs, but failed in their attempt to overthrow Castro.
In January 1962, Cuba was suspended from the Organization of American States (OAS), and later the same year the OAS started to impose sanctions against Cuba of similar nature to the U.S. sanctions. The Cuban Missile Crisis occurred in October 1962. By 1963, Cuba was moving towards a full fledged Communist system modelled on the USSR.
During the 1970s, Fidel Castro dispatched tens of thousands of troops in support of Soviet wars in Africa. He supported the MPLA in Angola and Mengistu Haile Mariam in Ethiopia. The standard of living in the 1970s was “extremely spartan” and discontent was rife. Fidel Castro admitted the failures of economic policies in a 1970 speech.
Castro’s rule was severely tested in the aftermath of the Soviet collapse in 1991 (known in Cuba as the Special Period). The country faced a severe economic downturn following the withdrawal of Soviet subsidies worth $4 billion to $6 billion annually, resulting in effects such as food and fuel shortages. The government did not accept American donations of food, medicines, and cash until 1993. Cuba has since found a new source of aid and support in the People’s Republic of China. In addition, Hugo Chávez, then-President of Venezuela, and Evo Morales, President of Bolivia, became allies and both countries are major oil and gas exporters. In 2003, the government arrested and imprisoned a large number of civil activists, a period known as the “Black Spring”. In January 2013 Cuba ended the requirement established in 1961, that any citizens who wish to travel abroad were required to obtain an expensive government permit and a letter of invitation. In 1961 the Cuban government had imposed broad restrictions on travel to prevent the mass emigration of people after the 1959 revolution; it approved exit visas only on rare occasions. Requirements were simplified: Cubans need only a passport and a national ID card to leave; and they are allowed to take their young children with them for the first time. However, a passport costs on average five months’ salary. Observers expect that Cubans with paying relatives abroad are most likely to be able to take advantage of the new policy. In the first year of the program, over 180,000 left Cuba and returned.
As of December 2014, talks with Cuban officials and American officials, including President Barack Obama, resulted in the release of Alan Gross, fifty-two political prisoners, and an unnamed non-citizen agent of the United States in return for the release of three Cuban agents currently imprisoned in the United States. Additionally, while the embargo between the United States and Cuba was not immediately lifted, it was relaxed to allow import, export, and certain limited commerce.
SOCIAL CULTURE AND RELIGION
Immigration and emigration have played a prominent part in Cuba’s demographic profile. Between the 18th and early 20th century, large waves of Canarian, Catalan, Andalusian, Galician, and other Spanish people immigrated to Cuba. Between 1899–1930 alone, close to a million Spaniards entered the country, though many would eventually return to Spain. Other prominent immigrant groups included French, Portuguese, Italian, Russian, Dutch, Greek, British, and Irish, as well as small number of descendants of U.S. citizens who arrived in Cuba in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Post-revolution Cuba has been characterized by significant levels of emigration, which has led to a large and influential diaspora community. During the three decades after January 1959, more than one million Cubans emigrated to the United States. Prior to January 2013, Cuban citizens could not travel abroad, leave or return to Cuba without first obtaining official permission along with applying for a government issued passport and travel visa, which was often denied. Those who left the country typically did so by sea, in small boats and fragile rafts. In 2010, the Pew Forum estimated that religious affiliation in Cuba is 65% Christian, 23% unaffiliated, 17% folk religion (such as santería), and the remaining 0.4% consisting of other religions. The religious landscape of Cuba is also strongly defined by syncretism of various kinds. Christianity is often practiced in tandem with Santería, a mixture of Catholicism and mostly African faiths, which include a number of cults. La Virgen de la Caridad del Cobre (the Virgin of Cobre) is the Catholic patroness of Cuba, and a symbol of Cuban culture. In Santería, she has been syncretized with the goddess Oshun.
POLITICS
The Republic of Cuba is one of the world’s last remaining socialist countries following the Marxist–Leninist ideology. The Constitution of 1976, which defined Cuba as a socialist republic, was replaced by the Constitution of 1992, which is “guided by the ideas of José Martí and the political and social ideas of Marx, Engels and Lenin.” The constitution describes the Communist Party of Cuba as the “leading force of society and of the state”. Cuba is considered an authoritarian regime according to the 2016 Democracy Index and 2017 Freedom in the World survey. In February 2013, Cuban president Raúl Castro announced he would resign in 2018, ending his five-year term, and that he hopes to implement permanent term limits for future Cuban Presidents, including age limits. After Fidel Castro died on 25 November 2016, the Cuban government declared a nine-day mourning period. During the mourning period Cuban citizens were prohibited from playing loud music, partying, and drinking alcohol. The country is subdivided into 15 provinces and one special municipality (Isla de la Juventud). These were formerly part of six larger historical provinces: Pinar del Río, Habana, Matanzas, Las Villas, Camagüey and Oriente. The present subdivisions closely resemble those of the Spanish military provinces during the Cuban Wars of Independence, when the most troublesome areas were subdivided. The provinces are divided into municipalities. Cuba had the second-highest number of imprisoned journalists of any nation in 2008 (China was the first) according to various sources. During the entire period of Castro’s rule over the island, an estimated 200,000 people had been imprisoned or deprived of their freedoms for political reasons.
ECONOMY
The Cuban state claims to adhere to socialist principles in organizing its largely state controlled planned economy. Most of the means of production are owned and run by the government and most of the labour force is employed by the state. Recent years have seen a trend toward more private sector employment. By 2006, public sector employment was 78% and private sector 22%, compared to 91.8% to 8.2% in 1981. Cuba has a dual currency system, whereby most wages and prices are set in Cuban pesos (CUP), while the tourist economy operates with Convertible pesos (CUC), set at par with the US dollar. Before Fidel Castro’s 1959 revolution, Cuba was one of the most advanced and successful countries in Latin America, however, income inequality was profound between city and countryside, especially between whites and blacks. After the Cuban revolution and before the collapse of the Soviet Union, Cuba depended on Moscow for substantial aid and sheltered markets for its exports. The loss of these subsidies sent the Cuban economy into a rapid depression known in Cuba as the Special Period. Cuba took limited free market oriented measures to alleviate severe shortages of food, consumer goods, and services. These steps included allowing some self employment in certain retail and light manufacturing sectors, the legalization of the use of the US dollar in business, and the encouragement of tourism. Cuba has developed a unique urban farm system called organopónicos to compensate for the end of food imports from the Soviet Union.
In 2008, Raúl Castro began enacting agrarian reforms to boost food production, as at that time 80% of food was imported. The reforms aim to expand land use and increase efficiency. In May 2019, Cuba imposed rationing of staples such as chicken, eggs, rice, beans, soap and other basics. A spokesperson blamed the increased U.S. trade embargo although economists believe that an equally important problem is the massive decline of aid from Venezuela and the failure of Cuba’s state-run oil company which had subsidized fuel costs. Cuba’s natural resources include sugar, tobacco, fish, citrus fruits, coffee, beans, rice, potatoes, and livestock. Cuba’s most important mineral resource is nickel and is also a major producer of refined cobalt, a by-product of nickel mining.
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
Relations with US
President Barack Obama took some extraordinary steps to normalize U.S. relations with Cuba, meeting with leader Raul Castro and restoring full diplomatic ties. However, President Donald J. Trump largely reversed course, hitting Cuba with a raft of new sanctions. The Joe Biden administration could thaw relations once again, experts say, but it is unclear how quickly and to what extent. The tumultuous U.S.-Cuba relationship has its roots in the Cold War. In 1959, Fidel Castro and a group of revolutionaries seized power in Havana, overthrowing the U.S.-backed government of Fulgencio Batista. After the Cuban Revolution, the United States recognized Fidel Castro’s government but began imposing economic penalties as the new regime increased its trade with the Soviet Union, nationalized American-owned properties, and hiked taxes on U.S. imports. After slashing Cuban sugar imports, Washington instituted a ban on nearly all U.S. exports to Cuba, which President John F. Kennedy expanded into a full economic embargo that included stringent travel restrictions. During his 2008 presidential campaign, Barack Obama said isolating Cuba had failed to advance U.S. interests and that it was time to pursue diplomacy with the Castro regime. Several weeks after taking office, he eased restrictions on remittances and travel, allowing Cuban Americans to send unlimited money to Cuba and permitting U.S. citizens to visit Cuba for religious and educational purposes. Obama and Raul Castro surprised the world in late 2014 by announcing that their governments would restore full diplomatic ties and begin to ease more than fifty years of bilateral tensions. In early 2016, Obama took another significant step toward normalization, visiting Havana in what was the first trip to Cuba by a sitting U.S. president since Calvin Coolidge in 1928.