Cuban Revolution Rebel Raul Castro Vintage Original Photo Cuba Awesome

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Seller: memorabilia111 ✉️ (808) 100%, Location: Ann Arbor, Michigan, US, Ships to: US & many other countries, Item: 176299958000 CUBAN REVOLUTION REBEL RAUL CASTRO VINTAGE ORIGINAL PHOTO CUBA AWESOME. RAUL CASTRO VINTAGE ORIGINAL PHOTO MEASURING APPROXIMATELY 7 X 9  INCHES FROM  1959 Raúl Modesto Castro Ruz is a Cuban retired politician and general who served as the first secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba, the most senior position in the one-party communist state, from 2011 to 2021, and President of Cuba between 2008 and 2018, succeeding his brother Fidel Castro. 

Raúl Modesto Castro Ruz (/ˈkæstroʊ/;[6] American Spanish: [raˈul moˈðesto ˈkastɾo ˈrus]; born 3 June 1931) is a Cuban retired politician and general who served as the first secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba, the most senior position in the one-party communist state,[7] from 2011 to 2021, and President of Cuba between 2008 and 2018,[a] succeeding his brother Fidel Castro. One of the military leaders of the Cuban Revolution, Castro served as the minister of the Armed Forces from 1959 to 2008. His ministerial tenure made him the longest-serving minister of the armed forces. Castro was also a member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of Cuba, the highest decision-making body, from 1965 until 2021.[8] Because of his brother's illness, Castro became the acting president of the Council of State in a temporary transfer of power from 31 July 2006. Castro was officially made president by the National Assembly on 24 February 2008, after his brother, who was still ailing, announced on 19 February 2008 that he would not stand again. He was re-elected president on 24 February 2013. Shortly thereafter, Castro announced that his second term would be his final term, and that he would not seek re-election in 2018.[9][10] He stepped down from the presidency on 19 April 2018 after his successor, Miguel Díaz-Canel was elected by the National Assembly following parliamentary elections. Castro remained the first secretary of the Communist Party; he was still considered the de facto leader of the country, retaining oversight over the president.[11] Castro announced at the Eighth Congress of the Communist Party of Cuba, which began on 16 April 2021, that he was retiring.[12] His successor, Miguel Díaz-Canel, was voted in on 19 April.[13] Castro was also the head of the constitutional reform commission,[14] and continues to have a seat representing Santiago de Cuba's Segundo Frente municipality in the National Assembly.[15] Early life Raúl Modesto Castro Ruz was born in Birán, Cuba, the legal son of a Spanish immigrant father, Ángel Castro who was 55 at the time of his birth, and a Cuban-born mother of Canarian parentage, Lina Ruz. Raúl is the youngest of three brothers: Ramón, Fidel, and himself.[16] He also has four sisters: Angela, Juanita, Emma, and Agustina. Ángel Castro's first wife, Maria Argota, also raised five legal half-siblings of Raúl: Pedro Emilio, Maria Lidia, Manuel, Antonia, and Georgina. As children, the Castro brothers were expelled from the first school they attended. Like Fidel, Raúl later attended the Jesuit School of Colegio Dolores in Santiago and Belen Jesuit Preparatory School in Havana. Raúl as an undergraduate studied social science. Whereas Fidel excelled as a student, Raúl turned in mostly mediocre performances.[17] Raúl became a committed socialist and joined the Socialist Youth, an affiliate of the Soviet-oriented Popular Socialist Party, the island's Communist party.[18] The brothers participated actively in sometimes violent student actions.[19] In 1953, Raúl served as a member of the 26th of July Movement group that attacked the Moncada Barracks; he received a 13-year prison sentence and spent 22 months in prison as a result of this action.[20][21] During his subsequent exile in Mexico, he participated in the preparations for the expedition of the boat Granma to Cuba. Commander in the Cuban Revolution This section of a biography of a living person needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately from the article and its talk page, especially if potentially libelous. Find sources: "Raúl Castro" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (April 2021) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) Image from Oriente newspaper from 30 July 1953 after the capture of Raúl Castro. When the Granma landing failed and the 82 expeditionaries were detected by government troops soon after, Raúl was one of only 12 fighters who managed to reach a safe haven in the Sierra Maestra mountains, forming the core of the nascent rebel army (see the Cuban Revolution). As Fidel's brother and trusted right-hand man and given his proven leadership abilities during and after the Moncada attack, he was given progressively bigger commands. On 27 February 1958 Raúl was made comandante and assigned the mission to cross the old province of Oriente leading a column of guerrillas to open, to the northeast of that territory, the "Frank País Eastern Front". As a result of Raúl's "Eastern Front" operations, he was not involved in the pivotal Operation Verano (which came close to destroying the main body of fighters but ended up a spectacular victory for Fidel), but Raúl's forces remained active and grew over time. On 26 June 1958, Raúl Castro's rebels kidnapped ten Americans and two Canadians from the property of Moa Bay Mining Company (an American company) on the north coast of Oriente Province. The next day rebels took hostage 24 U.S. servicemen on leave from the United States naval base at Guantanamo Bay. This incident brought total kidnapped hostages to 36 (34 U.S. and 2 Canadian citizens). U.S. Ambassador Earl E. T. Smith and his staff determined the kidnappings had the following objectives: Obtain worldwide publicity, regain M-26-7 prestige lost by general strike call failure, force Batista's Air Force to stop bombing rebel holds, and gain public recognition from the U.S. Two tactical objectives the kidnapping achieved for Castro forces can be discerned from contemporaneous reporting in Time: Batista declaring a ceasefire for negotiations, forcing a reduction in Operation Verano air raids; the rebels used the lulls to regroup and fly in arms. The hostage-taking caused significant U.S. backlash, including unfavorable public reaction, and U.S. consideration to re-establishing military support to Batista and deploying U.S. forces to free the hostages. Ultimately, the hostages were released in very small groups, extracting the maximum press attention.[22] After their release, the hostages said they were treated well with some even claiming to support the rebel cause.[23] Regarding the captured Batista government soldiers, Raúl Castro notes in his war diaries: "All three were brought food and told that they would be released and only their weapons would be kept. They had money and watches we needed, but according to our principles, we didn't touch them." In the territories under guerrilla control, it created an autonomous structure by establishing hospitals, schools and several material manufacturing plants. In 1958, he was also at the origin of the M-26 intelligence services.[24] By October 1958, after reinforcement by Fidel, the brothers had about 2,000 fighters and were operating freely throughout Oriente province. In December, while Che Guevara and Camilo Cienfuegos were operating in Santa Clara, Fidel and Raúl's army laid siege to Maffo, capturing it on 30 December. Their victorious army then headed to Santiago de Cuba, capital of Oriente province. In response to the victory by Che Guevara at the Battle of Santa Clara, the U.S.-backed President Fulgencio Batista fled Cuba in the early morning of 1 January 1959.[25] The two Castro brothers with their army arrived on the outskirts of Santiago de Cuba and said their forces would storm the city at 6 P.M. on 1 January if it did not first surrender. The commander (Colonel Rego Rubido) surrendered Santiago de Cuba without a fight. The war was over, and Fidel was able to take power in Havana when he arrived on 8 January 1959. Raúl's abilities as a military leader during the revolution are hard to see clearly. Unlike Che Guevara or Cienfuegos, Raúl had no significant victories he could claim credit for on his own. After Batista's fall, Raúl had the task of overseeing trials and execution of between 30 and 70 soldiers loyal to deposed President Batista who had been convicted of war crimes.[26] Political career Early political career East German Minister of National Defense Heinz Hoffmann and Raúl Castro near Havana, Cuba, 1977 Raúl Castro Ruz was a member of the national leadership of the Integrated Revolutionary PO Organizations (established July 1961; dissolved March 1962) and of the United Party of the Socialist Revolution of Cuba (established March 1962; dissolved October 1965). He is also credited with helping shoot down a Lockheed U2 and killing Major Rudolf Anderson.[27] He served as a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba and Second Secretary of its Politburo from the Party's formation in October 1965; also, as First Vice President of the Cuban Council of State of the National Assembly of People's Power and Council of Ministers when these were established in 1976. Assumption of presidential duties See also: 2006–2008 Cuban transfer of presidential duties Manmohan Singh with Castro on sidelines the 14th Non-Aligned Movement Summit at Havana, Cuba on 15 September 2006 On 31 July 2006, Fidel Castro's personal secretary, Carlos Valenciaga, announced on state-run television that Fidel Castro would provisionally hand over the duties of First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba (party chief), President of the Council of State of Cuba (head of state), President of the Council of Ministers of Cuba (prime minister), and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces to Raúl Castro while Fidel underwent and recovered from intestinal surgery to repair gastrointestinal bleeding.[28][29] Many[quantify] commentators regarded Raúl Castro as a political hardliner who would maintain the Communist Party of Cuba's influence in the country. However, others believed that he was more pragmatic than his older brother and willing to institute some market-oriented economic policies. It was speculated[by whom?] that he favored a variant of the current Chinese and Vietnamese political and economic model for Cuba in the hopes of preserving some elements of the socialist system.[26] Raúl is considered by some[who?] to be less charismatic than his brother Fidel Castro, who remained largely out of public view during the transfer-of-duty period.[30] His few public appearances included hosting a gathering of leaders of the Non-Aligned nations in September 2006, and leading the national commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the landing of the boat Granma, which also became Fidel's belated 80th-birthday celebrations.[31][32] In a speech to university students, Raúl stated that a communist system in Cuba would remain, and that "Fidel is irreplaceable, unless we all replace him together."[33] On 1 May 2007 Raúl presided over the May Day celebrations in Havana. According to Granma the crowd reached over one million participants, with delegations from over 225 organizations and 52 countries.[34] Raúl has a reputation for his businesslike, unanimated delivery of speeches.[35] Communist leader This section of a biography of a living person needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately from the article and its talk page, especially if potentially libelous. Find sources: "Raúl Castro" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (August 2021) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) After assuming what was originally announced as a temporary control over the presidency in 2006, on 24 February 2008 Raúl Castro won election as the new President of the Council of State and President of the Council of Ministers during a legislative session held at Cuba's Palace of Conventions in Havana. His administration subsequently announced several economic reforms. In March 2008 the government removed restrictions on the purchase of numerous products not available under Fidel Castro's administration - including DVD-players, computers, rice cookers, and microwaves.[36] In an effort to boost food production, the government allowed private farmers and cooperatives to lease idle state-owned land and moved much of the decision-making process regarding land use from the national level to the municipal level.[37] All death sentences (about 30) were commuted between 2008 and 2010, although none had been executed since 2003.[38] Raúl Castro with Hugo Chávez, 2010 In mid-2008, the government overhauled the salary structure of all state-run companies so that harder-working employees could earn higher wages.[39] In addition, the government removed restrictions against the use of cell phones and investigated the removal of travel restrictions on Cubans.[36] In March 2009, Raúl Castro dismissed some officials. In April 2011, Raúl announced a plan of 300 economic reforms encouraging private initiative, reducing state spending, encouraging foreign investment and agrarian reforms. He also announced a limitation on presidential terms, including his own. On 24 February 2013, Cuba's parliament named Raúl Castro to a new five-year term as president and appointed Miguel Díaz-Canel as his first vice president. Castro announced that day that he would step down from power after his second term as president ended in 2018.[40] In 2018, he was selected as a candidate for the National Assembly of People's Power by the Segundo Frente municipality in Santiago de Cuba, regarded[by whom?] as the cradle of the Cuban Revolution.[41] Miguel Díaz-Canel took over as President of Cuba (President of the Council of State) on 19 April 2018. Raúl Castro remained First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party until he resigned on 19 April 2021. Normalization of relations with the United States See also: United States–Cuban Thaw Raúl Castro said in a 2008 interview: "The American people are among our closest neighbors. We should respect each other. We have never held anything against the American people. Good relations would be mutually advantageous. Perhaps we cannot solve all of our problems, but we can solve a good many of them."[42] On 10 December 2013, Castro, in a significant move, shook hands with and greeted American President Barack Obama at the Nelson Mandela memorial service in Johannesburg.[43] On 17 December 2014 Castro and Obama made separate announcements to the effect that efforts to normalize relations between the two nations would begin with the re-establishment of embassies in Havana and Washington. Direct diplomatic relations had previously ceased in 1961 after Cuba became closely allied with the USSR.[44][45] Argentine-born Pope Francis facilitated the rapprochement between the U.S. and Cuba, allowing the Vatican to be used for secret negotiations. Castro and Obama made simultaneous public announcements about the progress toward normalization.[46] On 20 July 2015 Cuba and the United States officially resumed full diplomatic relations with the sections of "Cuban interests" in Washington, D.C., and "U.S. interests" in Havana upgraded to embassies.[47] On 20 March 2016 Obama made a visit to Cuba to meet with Castro - the first visit of a sitting U.S. president to Cuba in 88 years.[48] Speaking in 2017, Castro criticized U.S. President Donald Trump's proposition of the Mexican wall and restrictive trade policy. Castro called Trump's plans egotistical and - for the border - irrational. "You can't contain poverty, catastrophes, and migrants with walls, but with cooperation, understanding, and peace," Castro said.[49] In November 2016 Trump (as U.S. President-elect) targeted Raúl in a tweet, saying, "If Cuba is unwilling to make a better deal for the Cuban people, the Cuban/American people and the U.S. as a whole, I will terminate deal".[50] Castro surprised a top American envoy in September 2017 while discussing sonic attacks on American diplomatic staff. He denied involvement but allowed FBI rare access to investigate the incident that allegedly left 21 people with hearing loss and brain damage.[51] In September 2019 the United States sanctioned Castro and barred him from entering the U.S. due to Cuba's support of the Nicolás Maduro government in Venezuela during the presidential crisis and alleged human-rights abuses caused by the government.[52] Retirement On 16 April 2021, the 8th Congress of the Communist Party of Cuba assembled for a four-day meeting,[53] marking the start of Castro's final transfer of leadership and retirement from politics.[54] Miguel Dias-Canel was elected Castro's successor as First Secretary of the Communist Party on 19 April 2021.[55] Public and personal life Castro married Vilma Espín, a former Massachusetts Institute of Technology chemical engineering student and the daughter of a wealthy lawyer for the Bacardi rum company, on 26 January 1959.[56] Vilma became president of the Cuban Federation of Women.[57] They have three daughters (Déborah, Mariela, and Nilsa) and one son (Alejandro) Castro Espín.[58] Vilma Espín died on 18 June 2007.[59] Alejandro is a Colonel in the Ministry of the Interior, as director of the office of Intelligence Coordination between MININT and MINFAR, with full oversight and access to all of the activities of the Intelligence services. Most foreign analysts consider him to be the "czar" of Cuban Intelligence and Raul's link to maintaining control over MININT, balancing it with his own control of MINFAR. He is widely viewed as Raul's most trusted advisor and is likely being prepared for a future leadership role.[60] Their daughter Mariela Castro currently heads the Cuban National Center for Sex Education, while Déborah is married to Colonel Luis Alberto Rodríguez, head of GAESA, the Armed Forces' economic division. He is widely regarded as one of the most powerful figures in the Cuban Economy due to the Military's hold on most of the lucrative business sectors.[61] Deborah's son, Raul Guillermo, nicknamed El Cangrejo (The Crab) due to a malformed finger, is Raul's current chief bodyguard.[62] In an interview in 2006, following his assumption of presidential duties, Raúl Castro commented on his public profile stating: "I am not used to making frequent appearances in public, except at times when it is required ... I have always been discreet, that is my way, and in passing I will clarify that I am thinking of continuing in that way".[63] In an interview with actor Sean Penn, Castro was described as "warm, open, energetic, and sharp of wit".[42] However, Juan Reynaldo Sanchez, a defected bodyguard for Fidel who knew Raul well, wrote later that his warm public exterior was a carefully maintained façade; In private, he found him to be "rough, curt, almost unpleasant" with a dubious sense of humor.[64] Nevertheless, though, Sanchez considered Raul the true "architect" of the Castroist system, despite having a polar opposite personality to Fidel. Whereas Fidel was "charismatic, energetic, visionary but extremely impulsive and totally disorganized", Raul was described as a "natural, methodical, and uncompromising organizer".[65] After a meeting with Pope Francis in Vatican City on 10 May 2015, Castro said that he would conditionally consider returning to the Roman Catholic Church.[66] He said in a televised news conference, "I read all the speeches of the pope, his commentaries, and if the pope continues this way, I will go back to praying and go back to the [Roman Catholic] church. I am not joking."[46] The pope visited Cuba before his September 2015 visit to the United States. Castro said: "I promise to go to all his Masses and with satisfaction," when Pope Francis visited Cuba in 2015.[67] Castro considered Christ a communist stating, "I think that's why they killed Jesus, for being a communist, for doing what Fidel defined as revolution... changing the situation."[68] Castro retired as Communist Party leader on 19 April 2021.[69] In popular culture In the 1969 American film Che!, Castro was played by Paul Bertoya. In the 2002 film Fidel, he was played by Maurice Comte. In the 2008 American biographical film Che, he was played by Rodrigo Santoro.[citation needed] He is mentioned as "Fidel Castro's brother" in the Billy Bragg song, "Waiting for the Great Leap Forwards". Honours and awards This section of a biography of a living person needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately from the article and its talk page, especially if potentially libelous. Find sources: "Raúl Castro" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (April 2021) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)  Cuba:  Hero of the Republic of Cuba[54]  Order of Playa Girón  Order of Cienfuegos  Angola:  Dr António Agostinho Neto Order  China:  Order of Friendship  Mali:  Grand Cross of the National Order of Mali[10]  North Korea:  Order of the National Flag, 1st class  Polish People's Republic:  Order of the Cross of Grunwald, 1st class  Russia:  Order of Friendship  Order of the Holy Prince Daniel of Moscow, 1st class (Russian Orthodox Church)[70]  Soviet Union:  Order of Lenin  Order of the October Revolution  Jubilee Medal "In Commemoration of the 100th Anniversary of the Birth of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin"  Ukraine:  First Class of the Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise[9]  Venezuela:  Grand Cordon of the Order of the Liberator  Vietnam:  Gold Star Order The Communist Party of Cuba (Spanish: Partido Comunista de Cuba, PCC) is the sole ruling party of Cuba. It was founded on 3 October 1965 as the successor to the United Party of the Cuban Socialist Revolution, which was in turn made up of the 26th of July Movement and Popular Socialist Party that seized power in Cuba after the 1959 Cuban Revolution. The party governs Cuba as an authoritarian one-party state where dissidence and political opposition are prohibited and repressed. The Cuban constitution ascribes the role of the party to be the "leading force of society and of the state". The highest body within the PCC is the Party Congress, which convenes every five years. When the Congress is not in session, the Central Committee is the highest body. Because the Central Committee meets twice a year, most day-to-day duties and responsibilities are vested in the Politburo. Since April 2021, the First Secretary of the Central Committee has been Miguel Díaz-Canel, who has been serving as President of Cuba since 2018. Marxism–Leninism was gradually formalized as the party's guiding ideology and remains so to this day. The party pursued state socialism, under which all industries were nationalized, and a command economy was implemented throughout Cuba despite the long-term embargo by the United States. The PCC also supports Castroism and Guevarism and is a member of the International Meeting of Communist and Workers' Parties. History A billboard in Havana promoting the "ongoing socialist revolution" Cuba had a number of communist and anarchist organizations from the early period of the Republic (founded in 1902). The original "internationalised" Communist Party of Cuba formed in the 1920s. In 1944, it renamed itself as the Popular Socialist Party for electoral reasons. In July 1961, two years after the successful overthrow of Fulgencio Batista and the creation of a revolutionary government, the Integrated Revolutionary Organizations (ORI) was formed from the merger of: Fidel Castro's 26th of July Movement The Popular Socialist Party led by Blas Roca Parts of the student-based Revolutionary Directory led by Faure Chomón On 26 March 1962, the ORI became the United Party of the Cuban Socialist Revolution (PURSC), which in turn became the Communist Party of Cuba on 3 October 1965. In Article 5 of the Cuban constitution of 1976, the Communist Party is recognized as "the superior guiding force of society and of the State, that organizes and orients common efforts toward the high goals of the construction of socialism and the advancement toward communist society".[8][9] All parties, including the Communist Party, are prohibited from publicly advertising their organizations. For the first fifteen years of its formal existence, the Communist Party was almost completely inactive outside of the Politburo. The 100 person Central Committee rarely met and it was ten years after its founding that the first regular party Congress was held. In 1969, membership of the party was only 55,000 or 0.7% of the population, making the PCC the smallest ruling communist party in the world. In the 1970s, the party's apparatus began to develop. By the time of the first party Congress in 1975, the party had grown to just over two hundred thousand members, the Central Committee was meeting regularly and provided the organizational apparatus giving the party the leading role in society that ruling Communist parties generally hold. By 1980, the party had grown to over 430,000 members and it grew further to 520,000 by 1985. Apparatuses of the party had grown to ensure that its leading cadres were appointed to key government positions.[citation needed] The Eighth Congress took place from 16 to 19 April 2021,[10][11] during which Miguel Díaz-Canel was elected as the First Secretary of the Central Committee, taking over from Raúl Castro.[12] José Ramón Machado Ventura was Second Secretary from 2011 to 2021.[12][13] Abelardo Álvarez Gil also remains Head of the Department of Organization and Staff Policy.[12] Organization The PCC governs Cuba as an authoritarian one-party state[14][15][16][17][18] where dissidence and political opposition are prohibited and repressed.[19][20][21] Congresses Main article: Congress of the Communist Party of Cuba The Communist Party of Cuba held its first party Congress in 1975 and has had additional congresses in 1980, 1986, 1991,[22] 1997 and 2011. The Seventh Congress took place from 19 to 22 April 2016,[23] around the 55th anniversary of the Bay of Pigs Invasion,[24] concluding with remarks by Fidel Castro.[25] Central Committee Further information: 8th Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba Party headquarters The leading bodies of the party were the Politburo and the Secretariat until 1991 when the two bodies were merged into an expanded Politburo with over twenty members. However, the Secretariat was re-introduced in 2002. There is also a Central Committee which meets between party congresses. At the Fifth Congress, the size of the Central Committee was reduced to 150 members from the previous membership of 225. Fidel Castro was the party's First Secretary (or leader) since its inception while Raúl Castro was the Second Secretary. Upon Fidel Castro's 2008 resignation from the party and Cuban government, Raúl Castro became First Secretary. Politburo Further information: 8th Politburo of the Communist Party of Cuba A 14-strong Politburo was elected by the 1st Plenary Session of the Central Committee on 19 April 2021 following the 8th Congress. Secretariat Further information: 8th Secretariat of the Communist Party of Cuba A 6-strong Secretariat was elected by the 1st Plenary Session of the Central Committee on 19 April 2021 following the 8th Congress. Mass organizations related to the PCC Young Communist League, (UJC founded in 1962 by Fidel Castro), youth group of future militants of the PCC Workers' Central Union of Cuba, (CTC, founded in 1939 by Blas Roca and Lázaro Peña), a Cuban trade union center Federation of Cuban Women, (FMC, founded in 1960 by Fidel Castro and Vilma Espín), a centralized women's organization National Association of Small Farmers, (ANAP, founded in 1961 by Fidel Castro), a peasant organization José Martí Pioneer Organization, (OPJM, founded in 1977 by Fidel Castro), student organization (pioneers) Student Federation of Secondary Education, (FEEM, founded in 1970 by Fidel Castro), student organization (pre) University Student Federation, (FEU, founded in 1922 by Julio Antonio Mella), student organization (university) Committees for the Defense of the Revolution, (CDR, founded in 1960 by Fidel Castro), community work organization Association of Combatants of the Cuban Revolution, (ACRC, founded in 1993 by Fidel Castro), organization of active and retired military personnel Union of Journalists of Cuba, (UPEC, founded in 1963 by Fidel Castro), a centralized organization of journalists Youth The Communist Party of Cuba has a youth wing, the Young Communist League (Unión de Jóvenes Comunistas, UJC) which is a member organization of the World Federation of Democratic Youth. It also has a children's group, the José Martí Pioneer Organization. Ideology The PCC is officially a Marxist–Leninist[26] party that is dedicated to the establishment of communism.[27][28][29] Since the Cuban Revolution, the party has also followed the doctrines of Castroism (the ideology of Fidel Castro, including inspiration from José Martí) and Guevarism. Economy The party has been more reluctant in engaging in market reforms, though it has been forced to accept some market measures in its economy due to the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the resultant loss of economic subsidies. Raúl Castro, after becoming the leader of the party, campaigned to "renew" Cuba's socialist economy through incorporating new exchange and distribution systems that have been traditionally seen as "market" oriented. This has led to some speculation that Cuba may transition towards a model more similar to a socialist market economy like that of China or a socialist-oriented market economy like that of Vietnam.[30] Private property and the need for foreign investment were recognized in the new constitution promulgated in 2019.[31] Foreign relations The Communist Party of Cuba has often pursued an interventionist foreign policy, actively assisting left-wing revolutionary movements and governments abroad, including the ELN in Colombia, the FMLN in El Salvador, the Sandinistas in Nicaragua, and Maurice Bishop's New Jewel Movement in Grenada.[citation needed] The party's most significant international role was in the civil war in Angola, where Cuba directed a joint Angolan/Soviet/Cuban force in the Battle of Cuito Cuanavale.[32][33] More recently, the party has sought to support Pink Tide leaders across Latin America, such as Hugo Chávez and later Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela and Evo Morales in Bolivia. Medical diplomacy has also been a prominent feature of the Party's foreign policy. The party maintains a policy of sending thousands of Cuban doctors, agricultural technicians, and other professionals to other countries throughout the developing world. The party also supports Latin American integration.[34] Electoral history National Assembly elections Election Party leader Votes % Seats +/– Position Result 1976 Fidel Castro Elected by the Municipal Assemblies 489 / 489 Increase 489 Increase 1st Sole legal party 1981 Elected by the Municipal Assemblies 499 / 499 Increase 10 Steady 1st Sole legal party 1986 Elected by the Municipal Assemblies 510 / 510 Increase 11 Steady 1st Sole legal party 1993 Full list 6,939,894 94.67% 589 / 589 Increase 79 Steady 1st Sole legal party Selective vote 360,735 5.33% 1998 Full list 7,533,222 100% 601 / 601 Increase 12 Steady 1st Sole legal party Selective vote 2003 Full list 7,128,860 91.35% 609 / 609 Increase 8 Steady 1st Sole legal party Selective vote 675,038 8.65% 2008 Full list 7,125,752 90.90% 614 / 614 Increase 5 Steady 1st Sole legal party Selective vote 713,606 9.10% 2013 Raúl Castro Full list 6,031,215 81.30% 612 / 612 Decrease 2 Steady 1st Sole legal party Selective vote 1,387,307 18.70% 2018 Full list 5,620,713 80.44% 605 / 605 Decrease 7 Steady 1st Sole legal party Selective vote 1,366,328 19.56% 2023 Miguel Díaz-Canel Full list 4,012,864 72.10% 470 / 470 Decrease 135 Steady 1st Sole legal party Selective vote 1,552,776 27.90% The president of Cuba (Spanish: Presidente de Cuba), officially the president of the Republic of Cuba (Spanish: Presidente de la República de Cuba), is the head of state of Cuba. The office in its current form was established under the Constitution of 2019. The President is the second-highest office in Cuba and the highest state office. Miguel Díaz-Canel became President of the Council of State on 19 April 2018, taking over from Raúl Castro, and has been President of Cuba since 10 October 2019. The position of first secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba continues to be the most powerful political position in Cuba. Fidel Castro held the position from 1976 to 2011, and Raúl Castro held the position from 2011 to 2021. Raúl Castro continued to hold the position of first secretary until the 8th Congress of the Communist Party of Cuba, held 16–19 April 2021, when he retired from office.[2] History Under the 1901 constitution, Cuba had a presidential system based on that of the United States. In 1940, a new constitution reformed the government into a semi-presidential system. On 2 December 1976, the executive was reformed again by a new national constitution, this time in emulation of the Soviet Union. The presidential office was abolished and replaced by a collective head of state, the Council of State, elected by the National Assembly of People's Power. However, unlike the USSR's arrangements, where the chairmen of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet and the Council of Ministers were distinct posts, the chairman of the Council of State also chaired the Council of Ministers. Furthermore, unlike English and Russian, Spanish does not distinguish between the terms "chairman/председатель" and "president/президент", translating both as "Presidente". Thus, when back-translated into English, the term used was not "Chairman" (on the precedent of similar institutions in countries whose languages have a chairman/president distinction, such as the USSR and East Germany), but rather "President", from the shared etymology with the Spanish "Presidente". On 24 February 2019, another constitution – Cuba's current – was adopted in a referendum. Under it, the government was again re-organized, and the posts of President and Prime Minister were restored.[3] This reorganization took effect on 11 October 2019. Díaz-Canel was President of the Council of State until 10 October 2019 and President of the Republic after that date. Under the new constitution, the position of President of the Council of State continues as a separate role, subordinate to President of the Republic. The new document also limited the President to two consecutive five-year terms. In cases of the absence, illness or death of the President of Cuba, the Vice President assumes the presidential duties. Powers The President of Cuba is mandated to have the following powers as per the Constitution: Propose to the National Assembly of People's Power, once elected by that body, the Prime Minister of Cuba and the members of the Council of Ministers; Accept (based on personal preference) the resignation of the Prime Minister and members of the Council of Ministers or propose either to the National Assembly of People's Power or the Council of State the replacement of any of those members and, in both cases, to propose the corresponding substitutes; Receive the credentials of the heads of delegation of foreign diplomatic missions. This responsibility may be delegated to any of the Vice Presidents of the Council of State; Assume the supreme command of all armed forces and determine their general organization; Preside over the National Defense Council; Declare a state emergency in those cases provided for in this Constitution, stating his decision, as soon as the circumstances permit it, to the National Assembly of People's Power or to the Council of State if the Assembly is unable to meet, according to legal effects; Sign decree-laws and other resolutions of the Council of State and the legal provisions adopted by the Council of Ministers or its executive committee, and arrange for their publication in the Official Gazette of the Republic; Assume all other duties assigned by the Constitution or by the laws of the Republic to him or her. See also flag Cuba portal Elections in Cuba First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba Prime Minister of Cuba List of prime ministers of Cuba Cuba under Fidel Castro 2006–08 Cuban transfer of presidential duties List of colonial governors of Cuba Cuba (/ˈkjuːbə/ (listeni) KEW-bə, Spanish: [ˈkuβa] (listeni); Lucumi: Erekusú),[13] officially the Republic of Cuba (Spanish: República de Cuba [reˈpuβlika ðe ˈkuβa] (listeni)), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico, and Atlantic Ocean meet. Cuba is located east of the Yucatán Peninsula (Mexico), south of both the American state of Florida and the Bahamas, west of Hispaniola (Haiti/Dominican Republic), and north of both Jamaica and the Cayman Islands. Havana is the largest city and capital; other major cities include Santiago de Cuba and Camagüey. The official area of the Republic of Cuba is 109,884 km2 (42,426 sq mi) (without the territorial waters) but a total of 350,730 km2 (135,420 sq mi) including the exclusive economic zone. Cuba is the second-most populous country in the Caribbean after Haiti, with over 11 million inhabitants.[14] The territory that is now Cuba was inhabited as early as the 4th millennium BCE, with the Guanahatabey and Taíno peoples inhabiting the area at the time of Spanish colonization in the 15th century.[15] From the 15th century, it was a colony of Spain, and slavery was abolished in 1886, remaining a Spanish colony until the Spanish–American War of 1898, when Cuba was occupied by the United States and gained independence in 1902. In 1940, Cuba implemented a new constitution, but mounting political unrest culminated in a coup in 1952 and the subsequent dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista,[16] which was later overthrown in January 1959 by the 26th of July Movement during the Cuban Revolution, which afterwards established communist rule under the leadership of Fidel Castro.[17][18] The country was a point of contention during the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States, and a nuclear war nearly broke out during the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Cuba faced a severe economic downturn in the 1990s, known as the Special Period. In 2008, Fidel Castro resigned after 49 years of leadership of Cuba and was replaced by his brother Raúl Castro. Cuba is one of a few extant Marxist–Leninist one-party socialist states, in which the role of the vanguard Communist Party is enshrined in the Constitution. Cuba has an authoritarian regime where political opposition is not permitted.[19][20] Censorship of information is extensive and independent journalism is repressed in Cuba;[21][22][23] Reporters Without Borders has characterized Cuba as one of the worst countries in the world for press freedom.[24][23] Culturally, Cuba is considered part of Latin America.[25] It is a multiethnic country whose people, culture and customs derive from diverse origins, including the Taíno Ciboney peoples, the long period of Spanish colonialism, the introduction of enslaved Africans and a close relationship with the Soviet Union during the Cold War. Cuba is a founding member of the United Nations, G77, Non-Aligned Movement, Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States, ALBA, and Organization of American States. It has currently one of the world's few planned economies, and its economy is dominated by the tourism industry and the exports of skilled labor, sugar, tobacco, and coffee. Cuba has historically—both before and especially during communist rule—performed better than other countries in the region on several socioeconomic indicators, such as literacy,[26][27] infant mortality and life expectancy. Cuba has a universal health care system which provides free medical treatment to all Cuban citizens.[28][29] Etymology Historians believe the name Cuba comes from the Taíno language; however, "its exact derivation [is] unknown".[30] The exact meaning of the name is unclear, but it may be translated either as 'where fertile land is abundant' (cubao),[31] or 'great place' (coabana).[32][better source needed] Fringe theory writers who believe that Christopher Columbus was Portuguese state that Cuba was named by Columbus for the town of Cuba in the district of Beja in Portugal.[33][34] History Main articles: History of Cuba and Timeline of Cuban history Pre-Columbian era Monument of Hatuey, an early Taíno chief of Cuba The Caribbean ground sloths, one of the last survivors of the pleistocene megafauna, lived in Cuba possibly until 2660 BCE.[35] Before the arrival of the Spanish, Cuba was inhabited by two distinct tribes of indigenous peoples of the Americas: the Taíno (including the Ciboney people), and the Guanahatabey. The ancestors of the Taíno migrated from the mainland of South America,[36] with the earliest sites dated to 5,000 BP.[37] The Taíno arrived from Hispaniola sometime in the 3rd century A.D. When Columbus arrived, they were the dominant culture in Cuba, having an estimated population of 150,000.[37] It is unknown when or how the Guanahatabey arrived in Cuba, having both a different language and culture than the Taíno; it is inferred that they were a relict population of pre-Taíno settlers of the Greater Antilles. The Taíno were farmers, as well as fishers and hunter-gatherers. Spanish colonization and rule (1492–1898) Main article: Captaincy General of Cuba After first landing on an island then called Guanahani, Bahamas, on 12 October 1492,[38] Christopher Columbus commanded his three ships: La Pinta, La Niña and the Santa María, discovering Cuba on 27 October 1492, and landing in the northeastern coast on 28 October.[39] (This was near what is now Bariay, Holguín Province.) Columbus claimed the island for the new Kingdom of Spain[40] and named it Isla Juana after John, Prince of Asturias.[41] Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar, conquistador of Cuba In 1511, the first Spanish settlement was founded by Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar at Baracoa. Other settlements soon followed, including San Cristobal de la Habana, founded in 1515, which later became the capital. The indigenous Taíno were forced to work under the encomienda system,[42] which resembled the feudal system in medieval Europe.[43] Within a century, the indigenous people were virtually wiped out due to multiple factors, primarily Eurasian infectious diseases, to which they had no natural resistance (immunity), aggravated by the harsh conditions of the repressive colonial subjugation.[44] In 1529, a measles outbreak in Cuba killed two-thirds of those few natives who had previously survived smallpox.[45][46] On 18 May 1539, conquistador Hernando de Soto departed from Havana with some 600 followers into a vast expedition through the American Southeast, starting in Florida, in search of gold, treasure, fame and power.[47] On 1 September 1548, Gonzalo Perez de Angulo was appointed governor of Cuba. He arrived in Santiago, Cuba, on 4 November 1549, and immediately declared the liberty of all natives.[48] He became Cuba's first permanent governor to reside in Havana instead of Santiago, and he built Havana's first church made of masonry.[49][c] A map of Cuba, c. 1680 By 1570, most residents of Cuba comprised a mixture of Spanish, African, and Taíno heritages.[51] Cuba developed slowly and, unlike the plantation islands of the Caribbean, had a diversified agriculture. Most importantly, the colony developed as an urbanized society that primarily supported the Spanish colonial empire. By the mid-18th century, there were 50,000 slaves on the island, compared to 60,000 in Barbados and 300,000 in Virginia; as well as 450,000 in Saint-Domingue, all of which had large-scale sugarcane plantations.[52] Map of Cuba by Cornelius Wytfliet in 1597 (National Library of Sweden) The Seven Years' War, which erupted in 1754 across three continents, eventually arrived in the Spanish Caribbean. Spain's alliance with the French pitched them into direct conflict with the British, and in 1762, a British expedition consisting of dozens of ships and thousands of troops set out from Portsmouth to capture Cuba. The British arrived on 6 June, and by August, had placed Havana under siege.[53] When Havana surrendered, the admiral of the British fleet, George Pocock and the commander of the land forces George Keppel, the 3rd Earl of Albemarle, entered the city, and took control of the western part of the island. The British immediately opened up trade with their North American and Caribbean colonies, causing a rapid transformation of Cuban society.[53] A painting of the British capture of Havana in 1762 Though Havana, which had become the third-largest city in the Americas, was to enter an era of sustained development and increasing ties with North America during this period, the British occupation of the city proved short-lived. Pressure from London to sugar merchants, fearing a decline in sugar prices, forced negotiations with the Spanish over the captured territories.[clarification needed] Less than a year after Britain captured Havana, it signed the 1763 Treaty of Paris together with France and Spain, ending the Seven Years' War. The treaty gave Britain Florida in exchange for Cuba.[d] Cubans constituted one of the many diverse units which fought alongside Spanish forces during the conquest of British West Florida (1779–81). The largest factor for the growth of Cuba's commerce in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century was the Haitian Revolution. When the enslaved peoples of what had been the Caribbean's richest colony freed themselves through violent revolt, Cuban planters perceived the region's changing circumstances with both a sense of fear and opportunity. They were afraid because of the prospect that slaves might revolt in Cuba as well, and numerous prohibitions during the 1790s of the sale of slaves in Cuba who had previously been enslaved in French colonies underscored this anxiety. The planters saw opportunity, however, because they thought that they could exploit the situation by transforming Cuba into the slave society and sugar-producing "pearl of the Antilles" that Haiti had been before the revolution.[54] As the historian Ada Ferrer has written, "At a basic level, liberation in Saint-Domingue helped entrench its denial in Cuba. As slavery and colonialism collapsed in the French colony, the Spanish island underwent transformations that were almost the mirror image of Haiti's."[55] Estimates suggest that between 1790 and 1820 some 325,000 Africans were imported to Cuba as slaves, which was four times the amount that had arrived between 1760 and 1790.[56] Slaves in Cuba unloading ice from Maine, c. 1832 Although a smaller proportion of the population of Cuba was enslaved, at times, slaves arose in revolt. In 1812, the Aponte Slave Rebellion took place, but it was ultimately suppressed.[57] The population of Cuba in 1817 was 630,980 (of which 291,021 were white, 115,691 were free people of color (mixed-race), and 224,268 black slaves).[58][e] In part due to Cuban slaves working primarily in urbanized settings, by the 19th century, the practice of coartacion had developed (or "buying oneself out of slavery", a "uniquely Cuban development"), according to historian Herbert S. Klein.[60] Due to a shortage of white labor, blacks dominated urban industries "to such an extent that when whites in large numbers came to Cuba in the middle of the nineteenth century, they were unable to displace Negro workers."[52] A system of diversified agriculture, with small farms and fewer slaves, served to supply the cities with produce and other goods.[52] In the 1820s, when the rest of Spain's empire in Latin America rebelled and formed independent states, Cuba remained loyal to Spain. Its economy was based on serving the empire. By 1860, Cuba had 213,167 free people of color (39% of its non-white population of 550,000).[52][f] Independence movements Carlos Manuel de Céspedes is known as Father of the Homeland in Cuba, having declared the nation's independence from Spain in 1868.[g] Full independence from Spain was the goal of a rebellion in 1868 led by planter Carlos Manuel de Céspedes. De Céspedes, a sugar planter, freed his slaves to fight with him for an independent Cuba. On 27 December 1868, he issued a decree condemning slavery in theory but accepting it in practice and declaring free any slaves whose masters present them for military service.[61] The 1868 rebellion resulted in a prolonged conflict known as the Ten Years' War. A great number of the rebels were volunteers from the Dominican Republic,[h] and other countries, as well as numerous Chinese indentured servants.[63][i][j] The United States declined to recognize the new Cuban government, although many European and Latin American nations did so.[66] In 1878, the Pact of Zanjón ended the conflict, with Spain promising greater autonomy to Cuba.[k] In 1879–80, Cuban patriot Calixto García attempted to start another war known as the Little War but failed to receive enough support.[68] Slavery in Cuba was abolished in 1875 but the process was completed only in 1886.[69][70] An exiled dissident named José Martí founded the Cuban Revolutionary Party in New York in 1892. The aim of the party was to achieve Cuban independence from Spain.[71] In January 1895, Martí traveled to Monte Cristi and Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic to join the efforts of Máximo Gómez.[71] Martí recorded his political views in the Manifesto of Montecristi.[72] Fighting against the Spanish army began in Cuba on 24 February 1895, but Martí was unable to reach Cuba until 11 April 1895.[71] Martí was killed in the Battle of Dos Rios on 19 May 1895.[71] His death immortalized him as Cuba's national hero.[72] Calixto García, a general of Cuban separatist rebels (right) with U.S. Brigadier General William Ludlow (Cuba, 1898) Cuban victims of Spanish reconcentration policies Around 200,000 Spanish troops outnumbered the much smaller rebel army, which relied mostly on guerrilla and sabotage tactics. The Spaniards began a campaign of suppression. General Valeriano Weyler, the military governor of Cuba, herded the rural population into what he called reconcentrados, described by international observers as "fortified towns". These are often considered the prototype for 20th-century concentration camps.[73] Between 200,000[74] and 400,000 Cuban civilians died from starvation and disease in the Spanish concentration camps, numbers verified by the Red Cross and United States Senator Redfield Proctor, a former Secretary of War. American and European protests against Spanish conduct on the island followed.[75][unreliable source?] The U.S. battleship USS Maine was sent to protect American interests, but soon after arrival, it exploded in Havana harbor and sank quickly, killing nearly three-quarters of the crew. The cause and responsibility for the sinking of the ship remained unclear after a board of inquiry. Popular opinion in the U.S., fueled by an active press, concluded that the Spanish were to blame and demanded action.[76] Spain and the United States declared war on each other in late April 1898.[l][m] Republic (1902–1959) Main article: Republic of Cuba (1902–1959) First years (1902–1925) Raising the Cuban flag on the Governor General's Palace at noon on 20 May 1902 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[81] 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.[82] Under Cuba's new constitution, the U.S. retained the right to intervene in Cuban affairs and to supervise its finances and foreign relations. Under the Platt Amendment, the U.S. leased the Guantánamo Bay Naval Base from Cuba. Following disputed elections in 1906, the first president, Tomás Estrada Palma, faced an armed revolt by independence war veterans who defeated the meager government forces.[83] The U.S. intervened by occupying Cuba and named Charles Edward Magoon as Governor for three years. Cuban historians have characterized Magoon's governorship as having introduced political and social corruption.[84] In 1908, self-government was restored when José Miguel Gómez was elected president, but the U.S. continued intervening in Cuban affairs. In 1912, the Partido Independiente de Color attempted to establish a separate black republic in Oriente Province,[85] but was suppressed by General Monteagudo with considerable bloodshed. In 1924, Gerardo Machado was elected president.[86] During his administration, tourism increased markedly, and American-owned hotels and restaurants were built to accommodate the influx of tourists.[86] The tourist boom led to increases in gambling and prostitution in Cuba.[86] The Wall Street Crash of 1929 led to a collapse in the price of sugar, political unrest, and repression.[87] Protesting students, known as the Generation of 1930, turned to violence in opposition to the increasingly unpopular Machado.[87] A general strike (in which the Communist Party sided with Machado),[88] uprisings among sugar workers, and an army revolt forced Machado into exile in August 1933. He was replaced by Carlos Manuel de Céspedes y Quesada.[87] The Pentarchy of 1933. Fulgencio Batista, who controlled the armed forces, appears at far right Revolution of 1933–1940 In September 1933, the Sergeants' Revolt, led by Sergeant Fulgencio Batista, overthrew Céspedes.[89] A five-member executive committee (the Pentarchy of 1933) was chosen to head a provisional government.[90] Ramón Grau San Martín was then appointed as provisional president.[90] Grau 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.[89] The period from 1933 to 1937 was a time of "virtually unremitting social and political warfare".[91] On balance, during the period 1933–1940 Cuba suffered from fragile politic structures, reflected in the fact that it saw three different presidents in two years (1935–1936), 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 labor and health care.[92] Batista was elected president in the same year, holding the post until 1944.[93] He is so far the only non-white Cuban to win the nation's highest political office.[94][95][96] His government carried out major social reforms. Several members of the Communist Party held office under his administration.[97] Cuban armed forces were not greatly involved in combat during World War II—though president Batista did suggest a joint U.S.-Latin American assault on Francoist Spain to overthrow its authoritarian regime.[98] Cuba lost six merchant ships during the war, and the Cuban Navy was credited with sinking the German submarine U-176.[99] Batista adhered to the 1940 constitution's strictures preventing his re-election.[100] Ramon Grau San Martin was the winner of the next election, in 1944.[93] Grau further corroded the base of the already teetering legitimacy of the Cuban political system, in particular by undermining the deeply flawed, though not entirely ineffectual, Congress and Supreme Court.[101] Carlos Prío Socarrás, a protégé of Grau, became president in 1948.[93] The two terms of the Auténtico Party brought an influx of investment, which fueled an economic boom, raised living standards for all segments of society, and created a middle class in most urban areas.[102] Coup d'état of 1952 Slum (bohio) dwellings in Havana, Cuba in 1954, just outside Havana baseball stadium. In the background is advertising for a nearby casino. After finishing his term in 1944 Batista lived in Florida, returning to Cuba to run for president in 1952. Facing certain electoral defeat, he led a military coup that preempted the election.[103] Back in power, and receiving financial, military, and logistical support from the United States government,[104] 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.[105] Batista outlawed the Cuban Communist Party in 1952.[106] After the coup, Cuba had Latin America's highest per capita consumption rates of meat, vegetables, cereals, automobiles, telephones and radios, though about one-third of the population was considered poor and enjoyed relatively little of this consumption.[107] However, in his "History Will Absolve Me" speech, Fidel Castro mentioned that national issues relating to land, industrialization, housing, unemployment, education, and health were contemporary problems.[108] In 1958, Cuba was a well-advanced country in comparison to other Latin American regions.[109] Cuba was also affected by perhaps the largest labor union privileges in Latin America, including bans on dismissals and mechanization. They were obtained in large measure "at the cost of the unemployed and the peasants", leading to disparities.[110] Between 1933 and 1958, Cuba extended economic regulations enormously, causing economic problems.[94][111] Unemployment became a problem as graduates entering the workforce could not find jobs.[94] The middle class, which was comparable to that of the United States[how?], became increasingly dissatisfied with unemployment and political persecution. The labor unions, manipulated by the previous government since 1948 through union "yellowness", supported Batista until the very end.[94][95] Batista stayed in power until he resigned in December 1958 under the pressure of the US Embassy and as the revolutionary forces headed by Fidel Castro were winning militarily (Santa Clara city, a strategic point in the middle of the country, fell into the rebels hands on December 31, in a conflict known as the Battle of Santa Clara).[112][113][114] Revolution and Communist Party rule (1959–present) Che Guevara and Fidel Castro, photographed by Alberto Korda in 1961 In the 1950s, various organizations, including some advocating armed uprising, competed for public support in bringing about political change.[115] In 1956, Fidel Castro and about 80 supporters landed from the yacht Granma in an attempt to start a rebellion against the Batista government.[115] In 1958, Castro's July 26th Movement emerged as the leading revolutionary group.[115] The U.S. supported Castro by imposing a 1958 arms embargo against Batista's government. Batista evaded the American embargo and acquired weapons from the Dominican Republic,[n] including Dominican-made Cristóbal Carbines, hand grenades, and mortars.[citation needed] By late 1958, the rebels had broken out of the Sierra Maestra and launched a general popular insurrection. After Castro's fighters captured Santa Clara, Batista fled with his family to the Dominican Republic on 1 January 1959. Later he went into exile on the Portuguese island of Madeira and finally settled in Estoril, near Lisbon. Fidel Castro's forces entered the capital on 8 January 1959. The liberal Manuel Urrutia Lleó became the provisional president.[121] According to Amnesty International, official death sentences from 1959 to 1987 numbered 237 of which all but 21 were actually carried out.[122] The vast majority of those executed directly following the 1959 Revolution were policemen, politicians, and informers of the Batista regime accused of crimes such as torture and murder, and their public trials and executions had widespread popular support among the Cuban population.[123] Since 1959, Cuba has regarded the U.S. presence in Guantánamo Bay as illegal.[124] The United States government initially reacted favorably to the Cuban Revolution, seeing it as part of a movement to bring democracy to Latin America.[125] 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.[125] The promulgation of the Agrarian Reform Law, expropriating thousands of acres of farmland (including from large U.S. landholders), further worsened relations.[125][126] 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.[127] In February 1960, Castro signed a commercial agreement with Soviet Vice-Premier Anastas Mikoyan.[125] 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 government.[128] The invasion (known as the Bay of Pigs Invasion) took place on 14 April 1961, during the term of President John F. Kennedy.[126] About 1,400 Cuban exiles disembarked at the Bay of Pigs. Cuban troops and local militias defeated the invasion, killing over 100 invaders and taking the remainder prisoner.[126] 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.[129] The Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962 almost sparked World War III.[130][131] In 1962 American generals proposed Operation Northwoods which would entail committing terrorist attacks in American cities and against refugees and falsely blaming the attacks on the Cuban government, manufacturing a reason for the United States to invade Cuba. However the plan was rejected by president Kennedy.[132] By 1963, Cuba was moving towards a full-fledged communist system modelled on the USSR.[133] Fidel Castro and members of the East German Politburo in 1972 During the Cold War, Cuban forces were deployed to all corners of Africa, either as military advisors or as combatants.[134] In 1963, Cuba sent 686 troops together with 22 tanks and other military equipment to support Algeria in the Sand War against Morocco.[135] The Cuban forces remained in Algeria for over a year, providing training to the Algerian army.[136] In 1964, Cuba organized a meeting of Latin American communists in Havana and stoked a civil war in the capital of the Dominican Republic in 1965, which prompted 20,000 U.S. troops to intervene there.[51] Che Guevara engaged in guerrilla activities in Africa and was killed in 1967 while attempting to start a revolution in Bolivia.[51] During the 1970s, Fidel Castro dispatched tens of thousands of troops in support of Soviet-backed wars in Africa. He supported the MPLA in Angola (Angolan Civil War) and Mengistu Haile Mariam in Ethiopia (Ogaden War).[137] Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR) commanders in Angola during the Battle of Quifangondo A Cuban-manned Soviet PT-76 in Luanda Cuban artillery crew in Ethiopia during the Ogaden War In November 1975, Cuba poured more than 65,000 troops and 400 Soviet-made tanks into Angola in one of the fastest military mobilizations in history.[138] South Africa developed nuclear weapons due to the threat to its security posed by the presence of large numbers of Cuban troops in Angola.[139] In 1976 and again in 1988 at the Battle of Cuito Cuanavale, the Cubans alongside their MPLA allies defeated UNITA rebels and apartheid South African forces.[140][o] In December 1977, Cuba sent its combat troops from Angola, the People's Republic of the Congo, and the Caribbean to Ethiopia,[136] assisted by mechanized Soviet battalions, to help defeat a Somali invasion. On 24 January 1978, Ethiopian and Cuban troops counterattacked, inflicting 3,000 casualties on the Somali forces.[136] In February, Cuban troops launched a major offensive and forced the Somali army back into its own territory.[136][142] Cuban forces remained in Ethiopia until 9 September 1989.[136] Despite Cuba's small size and the long distance separating it from the Middle East, Castro's Cuba played an active role in the region during the Cold War. In 1972, a major Cuban military mission consisting of tank, air, and artillery specialists was dispatched to South Yemen. Cuban military advisors were sent to Iraq in the mid-1970s but their mission was canceled after Iraq invaded Iran in 1980.[136] The Cubans were also involved in the Syrian-Israeli War of Attrition (November 1973–May 1974) that followed the Yom Kippur War (October 1973).[143] Israeli sources reported the presence of a Cuban tank brigade in the Golan Heights, which was supported by two brigades.[144] The Israelis and the Cuban-Syrian tank forces engaged in battle on the Golan front.[145]: 37–38  The standard of living in the 1970s was "extremely spartan" and discontent was rife.[146] Fidel Castro admitted the failures of economic policies in a 1970 speech.[146] In 1975, the OAS lifted its sanctions against Cuba, with the approval of 16 member states, including the United States. The U.S., however, maintained its own sanctions.[129] In 1979, the U.S. objected to the presence of Soviet combat troops on the island.[51] Following the 1983 coup that resulted in the execution of Grenadian Prime Minister Maurice Bishop and establishment of the military government led by Hudson Austin, U.S. forces invaded Grenada in 1983, overthrowing the regime. Most resistance came from Cuban construction workers, while the Grenadan People's Revolutionary Army and militia surrendered without putting up much of a fight. 24 Cubans were killed, with only 2 of them being professional soldiers, and the remainder were expelled from the island.[51][failed verification] U.S. casualties amounted to 19 killed, 116 wounded, and 9 helicopters destroyed. During the 1970s and 1980s, Castro supported Marxist insurgencies in Guatemala, El Salvador, and Nicaragua. Cuba gradually withdrew its troops from Angola in 1989–91.[136] An important psychological and political aspect of the Cuban military involvement in Africa was the significant presence of black or mixed-race soldiers among the Cuban forces.[136][p] According to one source, more than 300,000 Cuban military personnel and civilian experts were deployed in Africa. The source also states that out of the 50,000 Cubans sent to Angola, half contracted AIDS and that 10,000 Cubans died as a consequence of their military actions in Africa.[136] Soviet troops began to withdraw from Cuba in September 1991,[51] and Castro's rule was severely tested in the aftermath of the Soviet collapse in December 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.[148][149] The government did not accept American donations of food, medicines and cash until 1993.[148] On 5 August 1994, state security dispersed protesters in a spontaneous protest in Havana. From the start of the crisis to 1995, Cuba saw its gross domestic product (GDP) shrink by 35%. It took another five years for its GDP to reach pre-crisis levels.[150] 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, former 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".[151][152] In February 2008, Fidel Castro announced his resignation as President of the State Council following the onset of his reported serious gastrointestinal illness in July 2006.[153] On 24 February his brother, Raúl Castro, was declared the new president.[154] In his inauguration speech, Raúl promised that some of the restrictions on freedom in Cuba would be removed.[155] In March 2009, Raúl Castro removed some of his brother's appointees.[156] On 3 June 2009, the Organization of American States adopted a resolution to end the 47-year ban on Cuban membership of the group.[157] The resolution stated, however, that full membership would be delayed until Cuba was "in conformity with the practices, purposes, and principles of the OAS".[129] Fidel Castro restated his position that he was not interested in joining after the OAS resolution had been announced.[158] Raúl Castro and U.S. President Barack Obama at their joint press conference in Havana, Cuba, 21 March 2016 Effective 14 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.[159][160][161] In 1961 the Cuban government had imposed broad restrictions on travel to prevent the mass emigration of people after the 1959 revolution;[162] it approved exit visas only on rare occasions.[163] 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.[164] 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.[165] In the first year of the program, over 180,000 left Cuba and returned.[166] 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.[167] Cuba approved a new constitution in 2019. The optional vote attracted 84.4% of eligible voters. 90% of those who voted approved of the new constitution and 9% opposed it. The new constitution states that the Communist Party is the only legitimate political party, describes access to health and education as fundamental rights, imposes presidential term limits, enshrines the right to legal representation upon arrest, recognizes private property, and strengthens the rights of multinationals investing with the state.[168] Any form of discrimination harmful to human dignity is banned under the new constitution.[169] In July 2021, there were several large protests against the government under the banner of Patria y Vida. Protests included support from both right-leaning and left-leaning anti-regime Cuban exiles.[170][171][172] The song associated with the movement received international acclaim including a Latin Grammy Award.[173] On 25 September 2022, Cuba approved a referendum which amended the Family Code to legalise same-sex marriage and allow surrogate pregnancy and same-sex adoption. Gender reassignment surgery and transgender hormone therapy are provided free of charge under Cuba’s national healthcare system. The proposed changes were supported by the government and opposed by conservatives and parts of the opposition. Official policies of the Cuban government from 1959 until the 1990s were hostile towards homosexuality, with the LGBT community marginalized on the basis of heteronormativity, traditional gender roles, and strict criteria for moralism.[169][174] Government and politics Main article: Politics of Cuba Miguel Díaz-Canel Miguel Díaz-Canel First Secretary of the Communist Party and President of Cuba Manuel Marrero Cruz Manuel Marrero Cruz Prime Minister Salvador Valdés Mesa Salvador Valdés Mesa Vice President Esteban Lazo Hernández Esteban Lazo Hernández President of the National Assembly The Republic of Cuba is one of the few 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."[175] The constitution describes the Communist Party of Cuba as the "leading force of society and of the state".[175] The First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba is the most senior position in the one-party state.[176] The First Secretary leads the Politburo and the Secretariat, making the office holder the most powerful person in Cuban government.[177] Members of both councils are elected by the National Assembly of People's Power.[175] The President of Cuba, who is also elected by the Assembly, serves for five years and since the ratification of the 2019 Constitution, there is a limit of two consecutive five-year terms.[175] The headquarters of the Communist Party The People's Supreme Court serves as Cuba's highest judicial branch of government. It is also the court of last resort for all appeals against the decisions of provincial courts. Cuba's national legislature, the National Assembly of People's Power (Asamblea Nacional de Poder Popular), is the supreme organ of power; 609 members serve five-year terms.[175] The assembly meets twice a year; between sessions legislative power is held by the 31 member Council of Ministers. Candidates for the Assembly are approved by public referendum. All Cuban citizens over 16 who have not been convicted of a criminal offense can vote.[178] Article 131 of the Constitution states that voting shall be "through free, equal and secret vote".[175] Article 136 states: "In order for deputies or delegates to be considered elected they must get more than half the number of valid votes cast in the electoral districts".[175] There are elections in Cuba, but they are not considered democratic.[179][180] In elections for the National Assembly of People's Power there is only one candidate for each seat, and candidates are nominated by committees that are firmly controlled by the Communist Party.[181][182] Most legislative districts elect multiple representatives to the Assembly. Voters can select individual candidates on their ballot, select every candidate, or leave every question blank, with no option to vote against candidates.[183][184] No political party is permitted to nominate candidates or campaign on the island, including the Communist Party.[185] The Communist Party of Cuba has held six party congress meetings since 1975. In 2011, the party stated that there were 800,000 members, and representatives generally constitute at least half of the Councils of state and the National Assembly. The remaining positions are filled by candidates nominally without party affiliation. Other political parties campaign and raise finances internationally, while activity within Cuba by opposition groups is minimal. Cuba is considered an authoritarian regime according to The Economist's Democracy Index[186] and Freedom in the World reports.[187] More specifically, Cuba is considered a military dictatorship in the Democracy-Dictatorship Index,[188] and has been described as "a militarized society"[189] with the armed forces having long been the most powerful institution in the country.[190] In February 2013, President of the State Council 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.[191] 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.[192] Miguel Díaz-Canel was elected president on 18 April 2018 after the resignation of Raúl Castro. On 19 April 2021, Miguel Díaz-Canel became First Secretary of the Communist Party. He is the first non-Castro to be in such top position since the Cuban revolution of 1959.[193] Foreign relations Main article: Foreign relations of Cuba See also: Cuban medical internationalism Propaganda sign in front of the United States Interests Section in Havana Cuba has conducted a foreign policy that is uncharacteristic of such a minor, developing country.[194][195] Under Castro, Cuba was heavily involved in wars in Africa, Central America and Asia. Cuba supported Algeria in 1961–1965,[196] and sent tens of thousands of troops to Angola during the Angolan Civil War.[197] Other countries that featured Cuban involvement include Ethiopia,[198][199] Guinea,[200] Guinea-Bissau,[201] Mozambique,[202] and Yemen.[203] Lesser known actions include the 1959 missions to the Dominican Republic.[204][unreliable source?] The expedition failed, but a prominent monument to its members was erected in their memory in Santo Domingo by the Dominican government, and they feature prominently at the country's Memorial Museum of the Resistance.[205] In 2008, the European Union (EU) and Cuba agreed to resume full relations and cooperation activities.[206] Cuba is a founding member of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas.[207] At the end of 2012, tens of thousands of Cuban medical personnel worked abroad,[208] with as many as 30,000 doctors in Venezuela alone via the two countries' oil-for-doctors programme.[209] Raúl Castro with Mongolian President Elbegdorj during the Moscow Victory Day Parade, 9 May 2015 In 1996, the United States, then under President Bill Clinton, brought in the Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity Act, better known as the Helms–Burton Act.[210] In 2009, United States President Barack Obama stated on 17 April, in Trinidad and Tobago that "the United States seeks a new beginning with Cuba",[211] and reversed the Bush Administration's prohibition on travel and remittances by Cuban-Americans from the United States to Cuba.[212] Five years later, an agreement between the United States and Cuba, popularly called the "Cuban thaw", brokered in part by Canada and Pope Francis, began the process of restoring international relations between the two countries. They agreed to release political prisoners and the United States began the process of creating an embassy in Havana.[213][214][215][216][217] This was realized on 30 June 2015, when Cuba and the U.S. reached a deal to reopen embassies in their respective capitals on 20 July 2015[218] and reestablish diplomatic relations.[219] Earlier in the same year, the White House announced that President Obama would remove Cuba from the American government's list of nations that sponsor terrorism,[220][221] which Cuba reportedly welcomed as "fair".[222] On 17 September 2017, the United States considered closing its Cuban embassy following mysterious medical symptoms experienced by its staff.[223] In the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the ongoing international isolation of Russia, Cuba emerged as one of the few countries that maintained friendly relations with the Russian Federation.[224][225] Cuban president Miguel Diaz-Canel visited Vladimir Putin in Moscow in November 2022, where the two leaders opened a monument of Fidel Castro, as well as speaking out against U.S. sanctions against Russia and Cuba.[226] Embargo by the United States (1960 – present) Since 1960, the United States has placed a continued embargo against Cuba. The Cuban Democracy Act of 1992 states that sanctions will continue "so long as it continues to refuse to move toward democratization and greater respect for human rights".[227][non-primary source needed] American diplomat Lester D. Mallory wrote an internal memo on April 6, 1960, arguing in favor of an embargo: "The only foreseeable means of alienating internal support is through disenchantment and disaffection based on economic dissatisfaction and hardship. [...] to decrease monetary and real wages, to bring about hunger, desperation and overthrow of government."[228][229] The UN General Assembly has passed a resolution every year since 1992 condemning the embargo and stating that it violates the Charter of the United Nations and international law.[230] Cuba considers the embargo a human rights violation.[231] On 17 December 2014, United States President Barack Obama announced the re-establishment of diplomatic relations with Cuba, pushing for Congress to put an end to the embargo,[232] as well as the United States-run Guantanamo Bay detention camp. These diplomatic improvements were later reversed by the Trump Administration, which enacted new rules and re-enforced the business and travel restrictions which were loosened by the Obama Administration.[233] These sanctions were inherited and strengthened by the Biden Administration.[234] Military Main article: Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces As of 2018, Cuba spent about US$91.8 million on its armed forces or 2.9% of its GDP.[235] In 1985, Cuba devoted more than 10% of its GDP to military expenditures.[236] During the Cold War, Cuba built up one of the largest armed forces in Latin America, second only to that of Brazil.[237] From 1975 until the late 1980s, Soviet military assistance enabled Cuba to upgrade its military capabilities. After the loss of Soviet subsidies, Cuba scaled down the numbers of military personnel, from 235,000 in 1994 to about 49,000 in 2021.[238][239] In 2017, Cuba signed the UN treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.[240] Law enforcement Main article: Law enforcement in Cuba See also: Crime in Cuba A Lada Riva police car in Holguín All law enforcement agencies are maintained under Cuba's Ministry of the Interior, which is supervised by the Revolutionary Armed Forces. In Cuba, citizens can receive police assistance by dialing "106" on their telephones.[241] The police force, which is referred to as "Policía Nacional Revolucionaria" or PNR is then expected to provide help. The Cuban government also has an agency called the Intelligence Directorate that conducts intelligence operations and maintains close ties with the Russian Federal Security Service.[242][243] Administrative divisions Main articles: Provinces of Cuba and Municipalities of Cuba 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. Provinces of Cuba Pinar del Río Artemisa Havana Mayabeque Matanzas Cienfuegos Villa Clara Sancti Spíritus Ciego de Ávila Camagüey Las Tunas Granma Holguín Santiago de Cuba Guantánamo Isla de la Juventud Human rights Main articles: Human rights in Cuba, LGBT rights in Cuba, Women's rights in Cuba, Censorship in Cuba, and Cuban dissidents Ladies in White demonstration in Havana (April 2012) In 2003, the European Union (EU) accused the Cuban government of "continuing flagrant violation of human rights and fundamental freedoms".[244] As of 2009, it has continued to call regularly for social and economic reform in Cuba, along with the unconditional release of all political prisoners.[245] Cuban dissidents Antonio Rodiles, Antúnez and Orlando Gutierrez-Boronat in 2017 Cuba was ranked 19th by the number of imprisoned journalists of any nation in 2021 according to various sources, including the Committee to Protect Journalists and Human Rights Watch.[246][247] Cuba ranks 171st out of 180 on the 2020 World Press Freedom Index.[248] In July 2010, the unofficial Cuban Human Rights Commission said there were 167 political prisoners in Cuba, a fall from 201 at the start of the year. The head of the commission stated that long prison sentences were being replaced by harassment and intimidation.[249] Economy Main article: Economy of Cuba Further information: Dual economy of Cuba, Rationing in Cuba, and Sociolismo See also: United States embargo against Cuba Historical GDP per capita development Cuban exports by value, 2019 The Cuban state asserts its adherence to socialist principles in organizing its largely state-controlled planned economy. Most of the means of production are owned and run by the government and most of the labor force is employed by the state. Recent years have seen a trend 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.[250] Government spending is 78.1% of GDP.[251] Since the early 2010s, following the initial market reforms, it has become popular to describe the economy as being, or moving toward, market socialism.[252][253][254] Any firm that hires a Cuban must pay the Cuban government, which in turn pays the employee in Cuban pesos.[255] The average monthly wage as of July 2013 was 466 Cuban pesos—about US$19.[256] However, after an economic reform in January 2021, the minimum wage is about 2100 CUP (US$17.50) and the median wage is about 4000 CUP (US$33).[citation needed] Cuba had Cuban pesos (CUP) set at par with the US dollar before 1959.[256] Every Cuban household has a ration book (known as libreta) entitling it to a monthly supply of food and other staples, which are provided at nominal cost.[257] According to the Havana Consulting Group, in 2014, remittances to Cuba amounted to US$3,129 million, the seventh highest in Latin America.[258] In 2019, remittances had grown to US$6,616 million, but dropped down to US$1,967 million in 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[259] The pandemic has also devastated Cuba's tourist industry, which along with a tightening of U.S. sanctions, has led to large increase in emigration among younger working-age Cubans. It has been described as a crisis that is "threatening the stability" of Cuba, which "already has one of the hemisphere’s oldest populations".[260] History Before the 1959 revolution, Cuba was one of the richest countries in Latin America. Significant inequalities existed between city and countryside and between whites and blacks. Health care and education were not available to the rural poor, many of whom were seriously undernourished.[261] The country's economy in the middle part of the 20th century, fuelled by the sale of sugar to the United States, had grown wealthy. Cuba ranked 5th in the hemisphere in per capita income, 3rd in life expectancy, 2nd in per capita ownership of automobiles and telephones, and 1st in the number of television sets per inhabitant. Cuba's literacy rate, 76%, was the fourth highest in Latin America although two-thirds of the people received three years of education or less; one-third never attended school and half the adult population could neither read nor write.[262] Cuba also ranked 11th in the world in the number of doctors per capita, although there was massive inequality in the distribution of doctors; for example more than 60% of all doctors lived and worked in Havana in 1958 and even when they worked outside Havana province they typically worked in other provincial capitals.[263] US companies dominated the Cuban economy before the Revolution, controlling 80% of Cuba's trade. US firms ran public utilities, the railroad, and all of the oil refineries. Two-thirds of food production came from US-owned agro-business enterprises. US developers owned half of the arable land on the island.[262] Just 8% of landholders owned three-quarters of the land. At least 25% of the population was unemployed. 20% of the population received 58% of the income, while the bottom 20% took in just 2%.[262] According to PBS, a thriving middle class held the promise of prosperity and social mobility.[261] According to Cuba historian Louis Perez of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, "Havana was then what Las Vegas has become."[264] Cigar production in Santiago de Cuba 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, valued at $65 billion in subsidies in total from 1960 to 1990. This accounted for between 10% and 40% of Cuban GDP, depending on the year.[265] The loss of these subsidies sent the Cuban economy into a rapid depression known in Cuba as the Special Period, which saw the country's GDP decline by 33% between 1990 and 1993.[266] 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. The U.S. embargo against Cuba was instituted in 1960 in response to nationalization of U.S.-citizen-held property and was maintained on the grounds of perceived human rights violations. It is widely viewed that the embargo hurt the Cuban economy. In 2009, the Cuban Government estimated this loss at $685 million annually.[267] In 2005, Cuba had exports of US$2.4 billion, ranking 114 of 226 world countries, and imports of US$6.9 billion, ranking 87 of 226 countries.[268] Its major export partners are Canada 17.7%, China 16.9%, Venezuela 12.5%, Netherlands 9%, and Spain 5.9% (2012).[269] Cuba's major exports are sugar, nickel, tobacco, fish, medical products, citrus fruits, and coffee;[269] imports include food, fuel, clothing, and machinery. Cuba presently holds debt in an amount estimated at $13 billion,[270] approximately 38% of GDP.[271] According to The Heritage Foundation, Cuba is dependent on credit accounts that rotate from country to country.[272] Cuba's prior 35% supply of the world's export market for sugar has declined to 10% due to a variety of factors, including a global sugar commodity price drop that made Cuba less competitive on world markets.[273] It was announced in 2008 that wage caps would be abandoned to improve the nation's productivity.[274] Cuba's leadership has called for reforms in the country's agricultural system. 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.[275] Venezuela supplies Cuba with an estimated 110,000 barrels (17,000 m3) of oil per day in exchange for money and the services of some 44,000 Cubans, most of them medical personnel, in Venezuela.[276][277] Cubans are now permitted to own small businesses in certain sectors. In 2010, Cubans were allowed to build their own houses. According to Raúl Castro, they could now improve their houses, but the government would not endorse these new houses or improvements.[278] There is virtually no homelessness in Cuba,[279][280] and 85% of Cubans own their homes[281] and pay no property taxes or mortgage interest. Mortgage payments may not exceed 10% of a household's combined income.[citation needed]. On 2 August 2011, The New York Times reported that Cuba reaffirmed its intent to legalize "buying and selling" of private property before the year's end. According to experts, the private sale of property could "transform Cuba more than any of the economic reforms announced by President Raúl Castro's government".[282] It would cut more than one million state jobs, including party bureaucrats who resist the changes.[283] The reforms created what some call "New Cuban Economy".[284][285] In October 2013, Raúl said he intended to merge the two currencies, but as of August 2016, the dual currency system remains in force. Tobacco fields in Viñales In August 2012, a specialist of the "Cubaenergia Company" announced the opening of Cuba's first Solar Power Plant. As a member of the Cubasolar Group, there was also a mention of ten additional plants in 2013.[286] In 2016, the Miami Herald wrote, "... about 27 percent of Cubans earn under $50 per month; 34 percent earn the equivalent of $50 to $100 per month; and 20 percent earn $101 to $200. Twelve percent reported earning $201 to $500 a month; and almost 4 percent said their monthly earnings topped $500, including 1.5 percent who said they earned more than $1,000."[287] In May 2019, Cuba imposed rationing of staples such as chicken, eggs, rice, beans, soap and other basic goods. (Some two-thirds of food in the country is imported.) 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.[288] In June 2019, the government announced an increase in public sector wages of about 300%, specifically for teachers and health personnel.[289] In October, the government allowed stores to purchase house equipment and similar items, using international currency, and send it to Cuba by the Cuban emigration. The leaders of the government recognized that the new measures were unpopular but necessary to contain the capital flight to other countries as Panamá where Cuban citizens traveled and imported items to resell on the island. Other measures included allowing private companies to export and import, through state companies, resources to produce products and services in Cuba. On January 1, 2021, Cuba's dual currency system was formally ended, and the convertible Cuban peso (CUC) was phased out, leaving the Cuban peso (CUP) as the country's sole currency unit. Cuban citizens had until June 2021 to exchange their CUCs. However, this devalued the Cuban peso and caused economic problems for people who had been previously paid in CUCs, particularly workers in the tourism industry.[290][291][292] Also, in February, the government dictated new measures to the private sector, with prohibitions for only 124 activities,[293] in areas like national security, health and educational services.[294] The wages were increased again, between 4 and 9 times, for all the sectors. Also, new facilities were allowed to the state companies, with much more autonomy.[291] The first problems of the new reform, for the public opinion, were with the electricity prices, but that was amended quickly. Other measures corrected were in the prices to the private farmers.[citation needed] In July 2020, Cuba opened new stores accepting only foreign currency while simultaneously eliminating a special tax on the U.S. dollar[295] to combat an economic crisis arising initially due to economic sanctions imposed by the Trump administration,[296] then later worsened by a lack of tourism during the coronavirus pandemic. These economic sanctions have since been sustained by the Biden administration.[297] Resources Cuba's natural resources include sugar, tobacco, fish, citrus fruits, coffee, beans, rice, potatoes, and livestock. Cuba's most important mineral resource is nickel, with 21% of total exports in 2011.[298] The output of Cuba's nickel mines that year was 71,000 tons, approaching 4% of world production.[299] As of 2013 its reserves were estimated at 5.5 million tons, over 7% of the world total.[299] Sherritt International of Canada operates a large nickel mining facility in Moa. Cuba is also a major producer of refined cobalt, a by-product of nickel mining.[300] Oil exploration in 2005 by the US Geological Survey revealed that the North Cuba Basin could produce about 4.6 billion barrels (730,000,000 m3) to 9.3 billion barrels (1.48×109 m3) of oil. In 2006, Cuba started to test-drill these locations for possible exploitation.[301] Tourism Main article: Tourism in Cuba Varadero resort beach Trinidad is a colonial town UNESCO World Heritage Site. Tourism was initially restricted to enclave resorts where tourists would be segregated from Cuban society, referred to as "enclave tourism" and "tourism apartheid".[302] Contact between foreign visitors and ordinary Cubans were de facto illegal between 1992 and 1997.[303] The rapid growth of tourism during the Special Period had widespread social and economic repercussions in Cuba, and led to speculation about the emergence of a two-tier economy.[304] 1.9 million tourists visited Cuba in 2003, predominantly from Canada and the European Union, generating revenue of US$2.1 billion.[305] Cuba recorded 2,688,000 international tourists in 2011, the third-highest figure in the Caribbean (behind the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico).[306] The medical tourism sector caters to thousands of European, Latin American, Canadian, and American consumers every year. A recent study indicates that Cuba has a potential for mountaineering activity, and that mountaineering could be a key contributor to tourism, along with other activities, e.g. biking, diving, caving. Promoting these resources could contribute to regional development, prosperity, and well-being.[307] The Cuban Justice minister downplays allegations of widespread sex tourism.[308] According to a Government of Canada travel advice website, "Cuba is actively working to prevent child sex tourism, and a number of tourists, including Canadians, have been convicted of offences related to the corruption of minors aged 16 and under. Prison sentences range from 7 to 25 years."[309] Some tourist facilities were extensively damaged on 8 September 2017 when Hurricane Irma hit the island. The storm made landfall in the Camagüey Archipelago; the worst damage was in the keys north of the main island, however, and not in the most significant tourist areas.[310] Transport Main article: Transport in Cuba Geography Main articles: Geography of Cuba and Environment of Cuba Topographic map of Cuba Cuba is an archipelago of nearly 4,200 islands, cays and islets located in the northern Caribbean Sea at the confluence with the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean. It lies between latitudes 19° and 24°N, and longitudes 74° and 85°W. The United States (Key West, Florida) lies 150 km (93 miles) across the Straits of Florida to the north and northwest, and The Bahamas (Cay Lobos) 21 km (13 mi) to the north. Mexico lies 210 km (130.5 mi) west across the Yucatán Channel (to the closest tip of Cabo Catoche in the State of Quintana Roo). Haiti is 77 km (47.8 mi) east and Jamaica 140 km (87 mi) south. Cuba is the principal island, surrounded by four smaller groups of islands: the Colorados Archipelago on the northwestern coast, the Sabana-Camagüey Archipelago on the north-central Atlantic coast, the Jardines de la Reina on the south-central coast and the Canarreos Archipelago on the southwestern coast. The main island, named Cuba, is 1,250 km (780 mi) long, constituting most of the nation's land area (104,556 km2 or 40,369 sq mi) and is the largest island in the Caribbean and 17th-largest island in the world by land area. The main island consists mostly of flat to rolling plains apart from the Sierra Maestra mountains in the southeast, whose highest point is Pico Turquino (1,974 m or 6,476 ft). The second-largest island is Isla de la Juventud (Isle of Youth) in the Canarreos archipelago, with an area of 2,200 km2 (850 sq mi). Cuba has an official area (land area) of 109,884 km2 (42,426 sq mi). Its area is 110,860 km2 (42,803 sq mi) including coastal and territorial waters. Climate Main article: Climate of Cuba Köppen climate classification of Cuba With the entire island south of the Tropic of Cancer, the local climate is tropical, moderated by northeasterly trade winds that blow year-round. The temperature is also shaped by the Caribbean current, which brings in warm water from the equator. This makes the climate of Cuba warmer than that of Hong Kong, which is at around the same latitude as Cuba but has a subtropical rather than a tropical climate. In general (with local variations), there is a drier season from November to April, and a rainier season from May to October. The average temperature is 21 °C (70 °F) in January and 27 °C (81 °F) in July. The warm temperatures of the Caribbean Sea and the fact that Cuba sits across the entrance to the Gulf of Mexico combine to make the country prone to frequent hurricanes. These are most common in September and October. Hurricane Irma hit the island on 8 September 2017, with winds of 260 km/h (72 m/s),[311] at the Camagüey Archipelago; the storm reached Ciego de Avila province around midnight and continued to pound Cuba the next day.[312] The worst damage was in the keys north of the main island. Hospitals, warehouses and factories were damaged; much of the north coast was without electricity. By that time, nearly a million people, including tourists, had been evacuated.[310] The Varadero resort area also reported widespread damage; the government believed that repairs could be completed before the start of the main tourist season.[313] Subsequent reports indicated that ten people had been killed during the storm, including seven in Havana, most during building collapses. Sections of the capital had been flooded.[313] Biodiversity The Cuban trogon is the island's national bird. Its white, red and blue feathers match those of the Cuban flag. Cuba signed the Rio Convention on Biological Diversity on 12 June 1992, and became a party to the convention on 8 March 1994.[314] It has subsequently produced a National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan, with one revision, that the convention received on 24 January 2008.[315] The country's fourth national report to the CBD contains a detailed breakdown of the numbers of species of each kingdom of life recorded from Cuba, the main groups being: animals (17,801 species), bacteria (270), chromista (707), fungi, including lichen-forming species (5844), plants (9107) and protozoa (1440).[316] The native bee hummingbird or zunzuncito is the world's smallest known bird, with a length of 55 mm (2+1⁄8 in). The Cuban trogon or tocororo is the national bird of Cuba and an endemic species. Hedychium coronarium, named mariposa in Cuba, is the national flower.[317] Cuba is home to six terrestrial ecoregions: Cuban moist forests, Cuban dry forests, Cuban pine forests, Cuban wetlands, Cuban cactus scrub, and Greater Antilles mangroves.[318] It had a 2019 Forest Landscape Integrity Index mean score of 5.4/10, ranking it 102nd globally out of 172 countries.[319] According to a 2012 study, Cuba is the only country in the world to meet the conditions of sustainable development put forth by the WWF.[320] Demographics Main articles: Cuban people and Demographics of Cuba Population[321][322] Year Million 1950 5.9 2000 11.1 2021 11.3 According to the official census of 2010, Cuba's population was 11,241,161, comprising 5,628,996 men and 5,612,165 women.[323] Its birth rate (9.88 births per thousand population in 2006)[324] is one of the lowest in the Western Hemisphere. Although the country's population has grown by about four million people since 1961, the rate of growth slowed during that period, and the population began to decline in 2006, due to the country's low fertility rate (1.43 children per woman) coupled with emigration.[325] Migration Immigration Main articles: French immigration to Cuba and Spanish immigration to Cuba 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 and 1930 alone, close to a million Spaniards entered the country, though many would eventually return to Spain.[326] Other prominent immigrant groups included French,[327] 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. As of 2015, the foreign-born population in Cuba was 13,336 inhabitants per the World Bank data.[328] Emigration Main articles: Cubans, Cuban exile, and Cuban immigration to the United States North Hudson, New Jersey, is home to a large Cuban American population. 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 of all social classes—constituting 10% of the total population—emigrated to the United States, a proportion that matches the extent of emigration to the U.S. from the Caribbean as a whole during that period.[329][330][331][332][333] Prior to 13 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.[334] Those who left the country typically did so by sea, in small boats and fragile rafts. On 9 September 1994, the U.S. and Cuban governments agreed that the U.S. would grant at least 20,000 visas annually in exchange for Cuba's pledge to prevent further unlawful departures on boats.[335] As of 2013 the top emigration destinations were the United States, Spain, Italy, Puerto Rico, and Mexico.[336] Following a tightening of U.S. sanctions and damage to the tourist industry by the COVID-19 pandemic, emigration has accelerated. In 2022, more than 2% of the population (almost 250,000 Cubans out of 11 million) migrated to the United States, and thousands more went to other countries, a number "larger than the 1980 Mariel boatlift and the 1994 Cuban rafter crisis combined", which were Cuba's previous largest migration events.[260] Fertility As of 2022 Cuba's fertility rate is 1.582 births per woman.[337] Cuba's drop in fertility is among the largest in the Western Hemisphere[338] and is attributed largely to unrestricted access to legal abortion: Cuba's abortion rate was 58.6 per 1000 pregnancies in 1996, compared to an average of 35 in the Caribbean, 27 in Latin America overall, and 48 in Europe. Similarly, the use of contraceptives is also widespread, estimated at 79% of the female population (in the upper third of countries in the Western Hemisphere).[339] Ethnoracial groups 2012 Cuban census data[340] Race White 64.1% Mulatto 26.6% Black 9.3% Mixed heritage is common in Cuba, shown in this 1919 photograph of the Barrientos family, headed by a former Spanish soldier and an indigenous woman from Baracoa, Cuba. Cuba's population is multiethnic, reflecting its complex colonial origins. Intermarriage between diverse groups is widespread, and consequently there is some discrepancy in reports of the country's racial composition: whereas the Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies at the University of Miami determined that 62% of Cubans are black using the one drop rule,[341] the 2002 Cuban census found that a similar proportion of the population, 65.05%, was white. In fact, the Minority Rights Group International determined that "An objective assessment of the situation of Afro-Cubans remains problematic due to scant records and a paucity of systematic studies both pre- and post-revolution. Estimates of the percentage of people of African descent in the Cuban population vary enormously, ranging from 34% to 62%".[342] A 2014 study found that, based on ancestry informative markers (AIM), autosomal genetic ancestry in Cuba is 72% European, 20% African, and 8% Indigenous.[343] Around 35% of maternal lineages derive from Cuban Indigenous People, compared to 39% from Africa and 26% from Europe, but male lineages were European (82%) and African (18%), indicating a historical bias towards mating between foreign men and native women rather than the inverse.[343] Asians make up about 1% of the population, and are largely of Chinese ancestry, followed by Japanese and Filipino.[344][345] Many are descendants of farm laborers brought to the island by Spanish and American contractors during the 19th and early 20th century.[346] The current recorded number of Cubans with Chinese ancestry is 114,240.[347] Afro-Cubans are descended primarily from the Yoruba people, Bantu people from the Congo basin, Kalabari tribe and Arará from the Dahomey[348] as well as several thousand North African refugees, most notably the Sahrawi Arabs of Western Sahara.[349] Religion Main article: Religion in Cuba Havana Cathedral In 2010, the Pew Forum estimated that religious affiliation in Cuba is 59.2% Christian, 23% unaffiliated, 17.4% folk religion (such as santería), and the remaining 0.4% consisting of other religions.[350] In a 2015 survey sponsored by Univision, 44% of Cubans said they were not religious and 9% did not give an answer while only 34% said they were Christian.[351] Cuba is officially a secular state. Religious freedom increased through the 1980s,[352] with the government amending the constitution in 1992 to drop the state's characterization as atheistic.[353] Roman Catholicism is the largest religion, with its origins in Spanish colonization. Despite less than half of the population identifying as Catholics in 2006, it nonetheless remains the dominant faith.[272] Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI visited Cuba in 1998 and 2011, respectively, and Pope Francis visited Cuba in September 2015.[354][355] Prior to each papal visit, the Cuban government pardoned prisoners as a humanitarian gesture.[356][357] The government's relaxation of restrictions on house churches in the 1990s led to an explosion of Pentecostalism, with some groups claiming as many as 100,000 members. However, Evangelical Protestant denominations, organized into the umbrella Cuban Council of Churches, remain much more vibrant and powerful.[358] The religious landscape of Cuba is also strongly defined by syncretisms 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. A breakdown of the followers of Afro-Cuban religions showed that most practitioners of Palo Mayombe were black and dark brown-skinned, most practitioners of Vodú were medium brown and light brown-skinned, and most practitioners of Santeria were light brown and white-skinned.[359] Cuba also hosts small communities of Jews (500 in 2012), Muslims, and members of the Baháʼí Faith.[360] Several well-known Cuban religious figures have operated outside the island, including the humanitarian and author Jorge Armando Pérez. Languages Main articles: Cuban Spanish and Lucumí language The official language of Cuba is Spanish and the vast majority of Cubans speak it. Spanish as spoken in Cuba is known as Cuban Spanish and is a form of Caribbean Spanish. Lucumí, a dialect of the West African language Yoruba, is also used as a liturgical language by practitioners of Santería,[361] and so only as a second language.[362] Haitian Creole is the second-most spoken language in Cuba, and is spoken by Haitian immigrants and their descendants.[363] Other languages spoken by immigrants include Galician and Corsican.[364] Education Main article: Education in Cuba University of Havana, founded in 1728 The University of Havana was founded in 1728 and there are a number of other well-established colleges and universities. In 1957, just before Castro came to power, the literacy rate was as low as fourth in the region at almost 80% according to the United Nations, yet higher than in Spain.[109] Castro created an entirely state-operated system and banned private institutions. School attendance is compulsory from ages six to the end of basic secondary education (normally at age 15), and all students, regardless of age or gender, wear school uniforms with the color denoting grade level. Primary education lasts for six years, secondary education is divided into basic and pre-university education.[365] Cuba's literacy rate of 99.8 percent[269][366] is the tenth-highest globally, largely due to the provision of free education at every level.[367] Cuba's high school graduation rate is 94 percent.[368] Higher education is provided by universities, higher institutes, higher pedagogical institutes, and higher polytechnic institutes. The Cuban Ministry of Higher Education operates a distance education program that provides regular afternoon and evening courses in rural areas for agricultural workers. Education has a strong political and ideological emphasis, and students progressing to higher education are expected to have a commitment to the goals of Cuba.[365] Cuba has provided state subsidized education to a limited number of foreign nationals at the Latin American School of Medicine.[369][370] According to the Webometrics Ranking of World Universities, the top-ranking universities in the country are Universidad de la Habana (1680th worldwide), Instituto Superior Politécnico José Antonio Echeverría (2893rd) and the University of Santiago de Cuba (3831st).[371] Health Main article: Healthcare in Cuba Life expectancy development in Cuba After the revolution, Cuba established a free public health system.[29] Cuba's life expectancy at birth is 79.87 years (77.53 for males and 82.35 for females). This ranks Cuba 59th in the world and 4th in the Americas, behind Canada, Chile and the United States.[372] Infant mortality declined from 32 infant deaths per 1,000 live births in 1957, to 10 in 1990–95,[373] 6.1 in 2000–2005 and 5.13 in 2009.[366][269] Historically, Cuba has ranked high in numbers of medical personnel and has made significant contributions to world health since the 19th century.[109] Today, Cuba has universal health care and despite persistent shortages of medical supplies, there is no shortage of medical personnel.[374] Primary care is available throughout the island and infant and maternal mortality rates compare favorably with those in developed nations.[374] That an impoverished nation like Cuba has health outcomes rivaling the developed world is referred to by researchers as the Cuban Health Paradox.[375] Cuba ranks 30th on the 2019 Bloomberg Healthiest Country Index, the highest ranking of a developing country.[376] Disease and infant mortality increased in the 1960s immediately after the revolution, when half of Cuba's 6,000 doctors left the country.[377] Recovery occurred by the 1980s,[95] and the country's health care has been widely praised.[378] The Communist government stated that universal health care was a priority of state planning and progress was made in rural areas.[379] After the revolution, the government increased rural hospitals from one to 62.[29] Like the rest of the Cuban economy, medical care suffered from severe material shortages following the end of Soviet subsidies in 1991, and a tightening of the U.S. embargo in 1992.[380] Challenges include low salaries for doctors,[381] poor facilities, poor provision of equipment, and the frequent absence of essential drugs.[382] Cuba has the highest doctor-to-population ratio in the world and has sent thousands of doctors to more than 40 countries around the world.[383] According to the World Health Organization, Cuba is "known the world over for its ability to train excellent doctors and nurses who can then go out to help other countries in need".[384] As of September 2014, there are around 50,000 Cuban-trained health care workers aiding 66 nations.[385] Cuban physicians have played a leading role in combating the Ebola virus epidemic in West Africa.[386] Preventative medicine is very important within the Cuban medical system, which provides citizens with easy to obtain regular health checks.[29] Import and export of pharmaceutical drugs is done by the Quimefa Pharmaceutical Business Group (FARMACUBA) under the Ministry of Basic Industry (MINBAS). This group also provides technical information for the production of these drugs.[387] Isolated from the West by the US embargo, Cuba developed the successful lung cancer vaccine, Cimavax, which is now available to US researchers for the first time, along with other novel Cuban cancer treatments. The vaccine has been available for free to the Cuban population since 2011.[388] According to Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center CEO Candace Johnson: "They've had to do more with less, so they've had to be even more innovative with how they approach things. For over 40 years, they have had a preeminent immunology community."[389] During the thaw in Cuba–U.S. relations starting in December 2014 under the Obama administration, a growing number of U.S. lung cancer patients traveled to Cuba to receive vaccine treatment. The end of the thaw under the Trump Administration has resulted in a tightening of travel restrictions, making it harder for U.S. citizens to travel to Cuba for treatment.[390] In 2015, Cuba became the first country to eradicate mother-to-child transmission of HIV and syphilis,[391] a milestone hailed by the World Health Organization as "one of the greatest public health achievements possible".[392] Largest cities See also: List of cities in Cuba    Largest cities or towns in Cuba According to the 2018 Estimate[393] Rank Name Province Pop. Havana Havana Santiago de Cuba Santiago de Cuba 1 Havana Havana 2,131,480 Camagüey Camagüey Holguín Holguín 2 Santiago de Cuba Santiago de Cuba 433,581 3 Camagüey Camagüey 308,902 4 Holguín Holguín 297,433 5 Santa Clara Villa Clara 216,854 6 Guantánamo Guantánamo 216,003 7 Victoria de Las Tunas Las Tunas 173,552 8 Bayamo Granma 159,966 9 Cienfuegos Cienfuegos 151,838 10 Pinar del Río Pinar del Río 145,193 Media Main article: Mass media in Cuba Users of a public WiFi hotspot in Havana, Cuba ETECSA opened 118 cybercafes across the country in 2013.[394] The government of Cuba provides an online encyclopedia website called EcuRed that operates in a "wiki" format.[395] Internet access is controlled, and e-mail is closely monitored.[396] Since 2018, access to Internet by mobile data is available. In 2019, 7.1 million Cubans could access the Internet.[397] The prices of connections, since[clarification needed] WiFi zones, or mobile data, or from houses through "Nauta Hogar" service have been decreasing, especially since the economic reform of January 2021, when all the salaries increased by at least 5 times, and the prices of Internet remain in the same point.[398][399] In 2021, it was reported that 7.7 million Cuban people have Internet access.[400] There were 6.14 million mobile connections in Cuba in January 2021.[400] Culture Main article: Culture of Cuba A local musical house, Casa de la Trova in Santiago de Cuba Cuban culture is influenced by its melting pot of cultures, primarily those of Spain, Africa and the indigenous Taínos of Cuba. After the 1959 revolution, the government started a national literacy campaign, offered free education to all and established rigorous sports, ballet, and music programs.[401] Cuisine Main article: Cuban cuisine A traditional meal of ropa vieja (shredded flank steak in a tomato sauce base), black beans, yellow rice, plantains and fried yuca with beer Cuban-style tamales Cuban cuisine is a fusion of Spanish and Caribbean cuisines. Cuban recipes share spices and techniques with Spanish cooking, with some Caribbean influence in spice and flavor. Food rationing, which has been the norm in Cuba for the last four decades, restricts the common availability of these dishes.[402] The traditional Cuban meal is not served in courses; all food items are served at the same time. The typical meal could consist of plantains, black beans and rice, ropa vieja (shredded beef), Cuban bread, pork with onions, and tropical fruits. Black beans and rice, referred to as moros y cristianos (or moros for short), and plantains are staples of the Cuban diet. Many of the meat dishes are cooked slowly with light sauces. Garlic, cumin, oregano, and bay leaves are the dominant spices. Literature Main article: Cuban literature Cuban literature began to find its voice in the early 19th century. Dominant themes of independence and freedom were exemplified by José Martí, who led the Modernist movement in Cuban literature. Writers such as Nicolás Guillén and José Z. Tallet focused on literature as social protest. The poetry and novels of Dulce María Loynaz and José Lezama Lima have been influential. Romanticist Miguel Barnet, who wrote Everyone Dreamed of Cuba, reflects a more melancholy Cuba.[403][unreliable source?] Alejo Carpentier was important in the magic realism movement. Writers such as Reinaldo Arenas, Guillermo Cabrera Infante, and more recently Daína Chaviano, Pedro Juan Gutiérrez, Zoé Valdés, Guillermo Rosales and Leonardo Padura have earned international recognition in the post-revolutionary era, though many of these writers have felt compelled to continue their work in exile due to ideological control of media by the Cuban authorities.[citation needed] However, several Cuban writers continue living and writing in Cuba, including Miguel Barnet,[citation needed] Nancy Morejón,[404] Marta Rojas,[405][failed verification] Fina García Marruz,[406][failed verification] and Carilda Oliver Labra.[407][failed verification] Music Main article: Music of Cuba Gloria Estefan and Celia Cruz Cuban music is very rich and is the most commonly known expression of Cuban culture. The central form of this music is son, which has been the basis of many other musical styles like "Danzón de nuevo ritmo", mambo, cha-cha-chá and salsa music. Rumba ("de cajón o de solar") music originated in the early Afro-Cuban culture, mixed with Spanish elements of style.[408] The Tres was invented in Cuba from Spanish cordophone instruments models (the instrument is actually a fusion of elements from the Spanish guitar and lute). Other traditional Cuban instruments are of African origin, Taíno origin, or both, such as the maracas, güiro, marímbula and various wooden drums including the mayohuacán. Popular Cuban music of all styles has been enjoyed and praised widely across the world. Cuban classical music, which includes music with strong African and European influences, and features symphonic works as well as music for soloists, has received international acclaim thanks to composers like Ernesto Lecuona. Havana was the heart of the rap scene in Cuba when it began in the 1990s. In December 2012, the director of the Cuban Music Institute, Orlando Vistel, threatened to bar sexually explicit songs and music videos from public radio and television.[409][410] Recognized Cuban artists include Los Van Van orchestra, known as "the music machinery of Cuba",[411] pianists Chucho Valdés[412] and Frank Fernández (the latter won the Golden title[clarification needed] at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory),[413] and Omara Portuondo, member of the Buena Vista Social Club. Many Cuban artists have won Grammy Awards.[412] Between the youth, Buena Fe is a popular group.[414] Dance Main article: Dance in Cuba Cuban culture encompasses a wide range of dance forms.[415] Danzón was the official musical genre and dance of Cuba.[416] Mambo music and dance developed originally in Cuba, with further significant developments by Cuban musicians in Mexico and the US. The cha-cha-cha is another dance of Cuban origin,[417] while the Cuban bolero originated in Santiago de Cuba in the last quarter of the 19th century.[418] Concert dance is supported by the government and includes internationally renowned companies such as the Ballet Nacional de Cuba.[419] Salsa dancing originated in Cuba and Cuban salsa is danced around the world. Sports Main article: Sport in Cuba Due to historical associations with the United States, many Cubans participate in sports that are popular in North America, rather than sports traditionally played in other Latin American nations. Baseball is the most popular. Other popular sports include volleyball, boxing, athletics, wrestling, basketball and water sports.[420] Cuba is a dominant force in amateur boxing, consistently achieving high medal tallies in major international competitions. Boxers Rances Barthelemy and Erislandy Lara defected to the U.S. and Mexico respectively.[421][422] Cuba also provides a national team that competes in the Olympic Games.[423] Jose R. Capablanca was a Cuban world chess champion from 1921 to 1927. See also flag Cuba portal map Latin America portal map Caribbean portal icon Islands portal Index of Cuba-related articles Outline of Cuba The Cuba Libre Story List of Caribbean islands Cuba (/ˈkjuːbə/ i KEW-bə, Spanish: [ˈkuβa] i; Lucumi: Erekusú),[13] officially the Republic of Cuba (Spanish: República de Cuba [reˈpuβlika ðe ˈkuβa] i), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico, and Atlantic Ocean meet. Cuba is located east of the Yucatán Peninsula (Mexico), south of both the American state of Florida and the Bahamas, west of Hispaniola (Haiti/Dominican Republic), and north of both Jamaica and the Cayman Islands. Havana is the largest city and capital; other major cities include Santiago de Cuba and Camagüey. The official area of the Republic of Cuba is 109,884 km2 (42,426 sq mi) (without the territorial waters) but a total of 350,730 km2 (135,420 sq mi) including the exclusive economic zone. Cuba is the second-most populous country in the Caribbean after Haiti, with over 11 million inhabitants.[14] The territory that is now Cuba was inhabited as early as the 4th millennium BC, with the Guanahatabey and Taíno peoples inhabiting the area at the time of Spanish colonization in the 15th century.[15] From the 15th century, it was a colony of Spain, and slavery was abolished in 1886, remaining a Spanish colony until the Spanish–American War of 1898, when Cuba was occupied by the United States and gained independence in 1902. In 1940, Cuba implemented a new constitution, but mounting political unrest culminated in a coup in 1952 and the subsequent dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista,[16] which was later overthrown in January 1959 by the 26th of July Movement during the Cuban Revolution, which afterwards established communist rule under the leadership of Fidel Castro.[17][18] The country was a point of contention during the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States, and a nuclear war nearly broke out during the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Cuba faced a severe economic downturn in the 1990s, known as the Special Period. In 2008, Fidel Castro resigned after 49 years of leadership of Cuba and was replaced by his brother Raúl Castro. Cuba is one of a few extant Marxist–Leninist one-party socialist states, in which the role of the vanguard Communist Party is enshrined in the Constitution. Cuba has an authoritarian regime where political opposition is not permitted.[19][20] Censorship of information is extensive and independent journalism is repressed in Cuba;[21][22][23] Reporters Without Borders has characterized Cuba as one of the worst countries in the world for press freedom.[24][23] Culturally, Cuba is considered part of Latin America.[25] It is a multiethnic country whose people, culture and customs derive from diverse origins, including the Taíno Ciboney peoples, the long period of Spanish colonialism, the introduction of enslaved Africans and a close relationship with the Soviet Union during the Cold War. Cuba is a founding member of the United Nations, G77, Non-Aligned Movement, Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States, ALBA, and Organization of American States. It has currently one of the world's few planned economies, and its economy is dominated by the tourism industry and the exports of skilled labor, sugar, tobacco, and coffee. Cuba has historically—both before and especially during communist rule—performed better than other countries in the region on several socioeconomic indicators, such as literacy,[26][27] infant mortality and life expectancy. Cuba has a universal health care system which provides free medical treatment to all Cuban citizens.[28][29] Etymology Historians believe the name Cuba comes from the Taíno language; however, "its exact derivation [is] unknown".[30] The exact meaning of the name is unclear, but it may be translated either as 'where fertile land is abundant' (cubao),[31] or 'great place' (coabana).[32][better source needed] Fringe theory writers who believe that Christopher Columbus was Portuguese state that Cuba was named by Columbus for the town of Cuba in the district of Beja in Portugal.[33][34] History Main articles: History of Cuba and Timeline of Cuban history Pre-Columbian era Monument of Hatuey, an early Taíno chief of Cuba The Caribbean ground sloths, one of the last survivors of the pleistocene megafauna, lived in Cuba possibly until 2660 BCE.[35] Before the arrival of the Spanish, Cuba was inhabited by two distinct tribes of indigenous peoples of the Americas: the Taíno (including the Ciboney people), and the Guanahatabey. The ancestors of the Taíno migrated from the mainland of South America,[36] with the earliest sites dated to 5,000 BP.[37] The Taíno arrived from Hispaniola sometime in the 3rd century A.D. When Columbus arrived, they were the dominant culture in Cuba, having an estimated population of 150,000.[37] It is unknown when or how the Guanahatabey arrived in Cuba, having both a different language and culture than the Taíno; it is inferred that they were a relict population of pre-Taíno settlers of the Greater Antilles. The Taíno were farmers, as well as fishers and hunter-gatherers. Spanish colonization and rule (1492–1898) Main article: Captaincy General of Cuba After first landing on an island then called Guanahani, Bahamas, on 12 October 1492,[38] Christopher Columbus commanded his three ships: La Pinta, La Niña and the Santa María, discovering Cuba on 27 October 1492, and landing in the northeastern coast on 28 October.[39] (This was near what is now Bariay, Holguín Province.) Columbus claimed the island for the new Kingdom of Spain[40] and named it Isla Juana after John, Prince of Asturias.[41] Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar, conquistador of Cuba In 1511, the first Spanish settlement was founded by Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar at Baracoa. Other settlements soon followed, including San Cristobal de la Habana, founded in 1515, which later became the capital. The indigenous Taíno were forced to work under the encomienda system,[42] which resembled the feudal system in medieval Europe.[43] Within a century, the indigenous people were virtually wiped out due to multiple factors, primarily Eurasian infectious diseases, to which they had no natural resistance (immunity), aggravated by the harsh conditions of the repressive colonial subjugation.[44] In 1529, a measles outbreak in Cuba killed two-thirds of those few natives who had previously survived smallpox.[45][46] On 18 May 1539, conquistador Hernando de Soto departed from Havana with some 600 followers into a vast expedition through the American Southeast, starting in Florida, in search of gold, treasure, fame and power.[47] On 1 September 1548, Gonzalo Perez de Angulo was appointed governor of Cuba. He arrived in Santiago, Cuba, on 4 November 1549, and immediately declared the liberty of all natives.[48] He became Cuba's first permanent governor to reside in Havana instead of Santiago, and he built Havana's first church made of masonry.[49][c] A map of Cuba, c. 1680 By 1570, most residents of Cuba comprised a mixture of Spanish, African, and Taíno heritages.[51] Cuba developed slowly and, unlike the plantation islands of the Caribbean, had a diversified agriculture. Most importantly, the colony developed as an urbanized society that primarily supported the Spanish colonial empire. By the mid-18th century, there were 50,000 slaves on the island, compared to 60,000 in Barbados and 300,000 in Virginia; as well as 450,000 in Saint-Domingue, all of which had large-scale sugarcane plantations.[52] Map of Cuba by Cornelius Wytfliet in 1597 (National Library of Sweden) The Seven Years' War, which erupted in 1754 across three continents, eventually arrived in the Spanish Caribbean. Spain's alliance with the French pitched them into direct conflict with the British, and in 1762, a British expedition consisting of dozens of ships and thousands of troops set out from Portsmouth to capture Cuba. The British arrived on 6 June, and by August, had placed Havana under siege.[53] When Havana surrendered, the admiral of the British fleet, George Pocock and the commander of the land forces George Keppel, the 3rd Earl of Albemarle, entered the city, and took control of the western part of the island. The British immediately opened up trade with their North American and Caribbean colonies, causing a rapid transformation of Cuban society.[53] A painting of the British capture of Havana in 1762 Though Havana, which had become the third-largest city in the Americas, was to enter an era of sustained development and increasing ties with North America during this period, the British occupation of the city proved short-lived. Pressure from London to sugar merchants, fearing a decline in sugar prices, forced negotiations with the Spanish over the captured territories.[clarification needed] Less than a year after Britain captured Havana, it signed the 1763 Treaty of Paris together with France and Spain, ending the Seven Years' War. The treaty gave Britain Florida in exchange for Cuba.[d] Cubans constituted one of the many diverse units which fought alongside Spanish forces during the conquest of British West Florida (1779–81). The largest factor for the growth of Cuba's commerce in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century was the Haitian Revolution. When the enslaved peoples of what had been the Caribbean's richest colony freed themselves through violent revolt, Cuban planters perceived the region's changing circumstances with both a sense of fear and opportunity. They were afraid because of the prospect that slaves might revolt in Cuba as well, and numerous prohibitions during the 1790s of the sale of slaves in Cuba who had previously been enslaved in French colonies underscored this anxiety. The planters saw opportunity, however, because they thought that they could exploit the situation by transforming Cuba into the slave society and sugar-producing "pearl of the Antilles" that Haiti had been before the revolution.[54] As the historian Ada Ferrer has written, "At a basic level, liberation in Saint-Domingue helped entrench its denial in Cuba. As slavery and colonialism collapsed in the French colony, the Spanish island underwent transformations that were almost the mirror image of Haiti's."[55] Estimates suggest that between 1790 and 1820 some 325,000 Africans were imported to Cuba as slaves, which was four times the amount that had arrived between 1760 and 1790.[56] Slaves in Cuba unloading ice from Maine, c. 1832 Although a smaller proportion of the population of Cuba was enslaved, at times, slaves arose in revolt. In 1812, the Aponte Slave Rebellion took place, but it was ultimately suppressed.[57] The population of Cuba in 1817 was 630,980 (of which 291,021 were white, 115,691 were free people of color (mixed-race), and 224,268 black slaves).[58][e] In part due to Cuban slaves working primarily in urbanized settings, by the 19th century, the practice of coartacion had developed (or "buying oneself out of slavery", a "uniquely Cuban development"), according to historian Herbert S. Klein.[60] Due to a shortage of white labor, blacks dominated urban industries "to such an extent that when whites in large numbers came to Cuba in the middle of the nineteenth century, they were unable to displace Negro workers."[52] A system of diversified agriculture, with small farms and fewer slaves, served to supply the cities with produce and other goods.[52] In the 1820s, when the rest of Spain's empire in Latin America rebelled and formed independent states, Cuba remained loyal to Spain. Its economy was based on serving the empire. By 1860, Cuba had 213,167 free people of color (39% of its non-white population of 550,000).[52][f] Independence movements Carlos Manuel de Céspedes is known as Father of the Homeland in Cuba, having declared the nation's independence from Spain in 1868.[g] Full independence from Spain was the goal of a rebellion in 1868 led by planter Carlos Manuel de Céspedes. De Céspedes, a sugar planter, freed his slaves to fight with him for an independent Cuba. On 27 December 1868, he issued a decree condemning slavery in theory but accepting it in practice and declaring free any slaves whose masters present them for military service.[61] The 1868 rebellion resulted in a prolonged conflict known as the Ten Years' War. A great number of the rebels were volunteers from the Dominican Republic,[h] and other countries, as well as numerous Chinese indentured servants.[63][i][j] The United States declined to recognize the new Cuban government, although many European and Latin American nations did so.[66] In 1878, the Pact of Zanjón ended the conflict, with Spain promising greater autonomy to Cuba.[k] In 1879–80, Cuban patriot Calixto García attempted to start another war known as the Little War but failed to receive enough support.[68] Slavery in Cuba was abolished in 1875 but the process was completed only in 1886.[69][70] An exiled dissident named José Martí founded the Cuban Revolutionary Party in New York in 1892. The aim of the party was to achieve Cuban independence from Spain.[71] In January 1895, Martí traveled to Monte Cristi and Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic to join the efforts of Máximo Gómez.[71] Martí recorded his political views in the Manifesto of Montecristi.[72] Fighting against the Spanish army began in Cuba on 24 February 1895, but Martí was unable to reach Cuba until 11 April 1895.[71] Martí was killed in the Battle of Dos Rios on 19 May 1895.[71] His death immortalized him as Cuba's national hero.[72] Calixto García, a general of Cuban separatist rebels (right) with U.S. Brigadier General William Ludlow (Cuba, 1898) Cuban victims of Spanish reconcentration policies Around 200,000 Spanish troops outnumbered the much smaller rebel army, which relied mostly on guerrilla and sabotage tactics. The Spaniards began a campaign of suppression. General Valeriano Weyler, the military governor of Cuba, herded the rural population into what he called reconcentrados, described by international observers as "fortified towns". These are often considered the prototype for 20th-century concentration camps.[73] Between 200,000[74] and 400,000 Cuban civilians died from starvation and disease in the Spanish concentration camps, numbers verified by the Red Cross and United States Senator Redfield Proctor, a former Secretary of War. American and European protests against Spanish conduct on the island followed.[75][unreliable source?] The U.S. battleship USS Maine was sent to protect American interests, but soon after arrival, it exploded in Havana harbor and sank quickly, killing nearly three-quarters of the crew. The cause and responsibility for the sinking of the ship remained unclear after a board of inquiry. Popular opinion in the U.S., fueled by an active press, concluded that the Spanish were to blame and demanded action.[76] Spain and the United States declared war on each other in late April 1898.[l][m] Republic (1902–1959) Main article: Republic of Cuba (1902–1959) First years (1902–1925) Raising the Cuban flag on the Governor General's Palace at noon on 20 May 1902 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[81] 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.[82] Under Cuba's new constitution, the U.S. retained the right to intervene in Cuban affairs and to supervise its finances and foreign relations. Under the Platt Amendment, the U.S. leased the Guantánamo Bay Naval Base from Cuba. Following disputed elections in 1906, the first president, Tomás Estrada Palma, faced an armed revolt by independence war veterans who defeated the meager government forces.[83] The U.S. intervened by occupying Cuba and named Charles Edward Magoon as Governor for three years. Cuban historians have characterized Magoon's governorship as having introduced political and social corruption.[84] In 1908, self-government was restored when José Miguel Gómez was elected president, but the U.S. continued intervening in Cuban affairs. In 1912, the Partido Independiente de Color attempted to establish a separate black republic in Oriente Province,[85] but was suppressed by General Monteagudo with considerable bloodshed. In 1924, Gerardo Machado was elected president.[86] During his administration, tourism increased markedly, and American-owned hotels and restaurants were built to accommodate the influx of tourists.[86] The tourist boom led to increases in gambling and prostitution in Cuba.[86] The Wall Street Crash of 1929 led to a collapse in the price of sugar, political unrest, and repression.[87] Protesting students, known as the Generation of 1930, turned to violence in opposition to the increasingly unpopular Machado.[87] A general strike (in which the Communist Party sided with Machado),[88] uprisings among sugar workers, and an army revolt forced Machado into exile in August 1933. He was replaced by Carlos Manuel de Céspedes y Quesada.[87] The Pentarchy of 1933. Fulgencio Batista, who controlled the armed forces, appears at far right Revolution of 1933–1940 In September 1933, the Sergeants' Revolt, led by Sergeant Fulgencio Batista, overthrew Céspedes.[89] A five-member executive committee (the Pentarchy of 1933) was chosen to head a provisional government.[90] Ramón Grau San Martín was then appointed as provisional president.[90] Grau 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.[89] The period from 1933 to 1937 was a time of "virtually unremitting social and political warfare".[91] On balance, during the period 1933–1940 Cuba suffered from fragile politic structures, reflected in the fact that it saw three different presidents in two years (1935–1936), 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 labor and health care.[92] Batista was elected president in the same year, holding the post until 1944.[93] He is so far the only non-white Cuban to win the nation's highest political office.[94][95][96] His government carried out major social reforms. Several members of the Communist Party held office under his administration.[97] Cuban armed forces were not greatly involved in combat during World War II—though president Batista did suggest a joint U.S.-Latin American assault on Francoist Spain to overthrow its authoritarian regime.[98] Cuba lost six merchant ships during the war, and the Cuban Navy was credited with sinking the German submarine U-176.[99] Batista adhered to the 1940 constitution's strictures preventing his re-election.[100] Ramon Grau San Martin was the winner of the next election, in 1944.[93] Grau further corroded the base of the already teetering legitimacy of the Cuban political system, in particular by undermining the deeply flawed, though not entirely ineffectual, Congress and Supreme Court.[101] Carlos Prío Socarrás, a protégé of Grau, became president in 1948.[93] The two terms of the Auténtico Party brought an influx of investment, which fueled an economic boom, raised living standards for all segments of society, and created a middle class in most urban areas.[102] Coup d'état of 1952 Slum (bohío) dwellings in Havana, Cuba in 1954, just outside Havana baseball stadium. In the background is advertising for a nearby casino. After finishing his term in 1944 Batista lived in Florida, returning to Cuba to run for president in 1952. Facing certain electoral defeat, he led a military coup that preempted the election.[103] Back in power, and receiving financial, military, and logistical support from the United States government,[104] 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.[105] Batista outlawed the Cuban Communist Party in 1952.[106] After the coup, Cuba had Latin America's highest per capita consumption rates of meat, vegetables, cereals, automobiles, telephones and radios, though about one-third of the population was considered poor and enjoyed relatively little of this consumption.[107] However, in his "History Will Absolve Me" speech, Fidel Castro mentioned that national issues relating to land, industrialization, housing, unemployment, education, and health were contemporary problems.[108] In 1958, Cuba was a well-advanced country in comparison to other Latin American regions.[109] Cuba was also affected by perhaps the largest labor union privileges in Latin America, including bans on dismissals and mechanization. They were obtained in large measure "at the cost of the unemployed and the peasants", leading to disparities.[110] Between 1933 and 1958, Cuba extended economic regulations enormously, causing economic problems.[94][111] Unemployment became a problem as graduates entering the workforce could not find jobs.[94] The middle class, which was comparable to that of the United States[how?], became increasingly dissatisfied with unemployment and political persecution. The labor unions, manipulated by the previous government since 1948 through union "yellowness", supported Batista until the very end.[94][95] Batista stayed in power until he resigned in December 1958 under the pressure of the US Embassy and as the revolutionary forces headed by Fidel Castro were winning militarily (Santa Clara city, a strategic point in the middle of the country, fell into the rebels hands on December 31, in a conflict known as the Battle of Santa Clara).[112][113][114] Revolution and Communist Party rule (1959–present) Che Guevara and Fidel Castro, photographed by Alberto Korda in 1961 In the 1950s, various organizations, including some advocating armed uprising, competed for public support in bringing about political change.[115] In 1956, Fidel Castro and about 80 supporters landed from the yacht Granma in an attempt to start a rebellion against the Batista government.[115] In 1958, Castro's July 26th Movement emerged as the leading revolutionary group.[115] The U.S. supported Castro by imposing a 1958 arms embargo against Batista's government. Batista evaded the American embargo and acquired weapons from the Dominican Republic,[n] including Dominican-made Cristóbal Carbines, hand grenades, and mortars.[citation needed] By late 1958, the rebels had broken out of the Sierra Maestra and launched a general popular insurrection. After Castro's fighters captured Santa Clara, Batista fled with his family to the Dominican Republic on 1 January 1959. Later he went into exile on the Portuguese island of Madeira and finally settled in Estoril, near Lisbon. Fidel Castro's forces entered the capital on 8 January 1959. The liberal Manuel Urrutia Lleó became the provisional president.[121] According to Amnesty International, official death sentences from 1959 to 1987 numbered 237 of which all but 21 were actually carried out.[122] The vast majority of those executed directly following the 1959 Revolution were policemen, politicians, and informers of the Batista regime accused of crimes such as torture and murder, and their public trials and executions had widespread popular support among the Cuban population.[123] Since 1959, Cuba has regarded the U.S. presence in Guantánamo Bay as illegal.[124] The United States government initially reacted favorably to the Cuban Revolution, seeing it as part of a movement to bring democracy to Latin America.[125] 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.[125] The promulgation of the Agrarian Reform Law, expropriating thousands of acres of farmland (including from large U.S. landholders), further worsened relations.[125][126] 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.[127] In February 1960, Castro signed a commercial agreement with Soviet Vice-Premier Anastas Mikoyan.[125] 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 government.[128] The invasion (known as the Bay of Pigs Invasion) took place on 14 April 1961, during the term of President John F. Kennedy.[126] About 1,400 Cuban exiles disembarked at the Bay of Pigs. Cuban troops and local militias defeated the invasion, killing over 100 invaders and taking the remainder prisoner.[126] 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.[129] The Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962 almost sparked World War III.[130][131] In 1962 American generals proposed Operation Northwoods which would entail committing terrorist attacks in American cities and against refugees and falsely blaming the attacks on the Cuban government, manufacturing a reason for the United States to invade Cuba. However the plan was rejected by president Kennedy.[132] By 1963, Cuba was moving towards a full-fledged communist system modelled on the USSR.[133] Fidel Castro and members of the East German Politburo in 1972 During the Cold War, Cuban forces were deployed to all corners of Africa, either as military advisors or as combatants.[134] In 1963, Cuba sent 686 troops together with 22 tanks and other military equipment to support Algeria in the Sand War against Morocco.[135] The Cuban forces remained in Algeria for over a year, providing training to the Algerian army.[136] In 1964, Cuba organized a meeting of Latin American communists in Havana and stoked a civil war in the capital of the Dominican Republic in 1965, which prompted 20,000 U.S. troops to intervene there.[51] Che Guevara engaged in guerrilla activities in Africa and was killed in 1967 while attempting to start a revolution in Bolivia.[51] During the 1970s, Fidel Castro dispatched tens of thousands of troops in support of Soviet-backed wars in Africa. He supported the MPLA in Angola (Angolan Civil War) and Mengistu Haile Mariam in Ethiopia (Ogaden War).[137] Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR) commanders in Angola during the Battle of Quifangondo A Cuban-manned Soviet PT-76 in Luanda Cuban artillery crew in Ethiopia during the Ogaden War In November 1975, Cuba poured more than 65,000 troops and 400 Soviet-made tanks into Angola in one of the fastest military mobilizations in history.[138] South Africa developed nuclear weapons due to the threat to its security posed by the presence of large numbers of Cuban troops in Angola.[139] In 1976 and again in 1988 at the Battle of Cuito Cuanavale, the Cubans alongside their MPLA allies defeated UNITA rebels and apartheid South African forces.[140][o] In December 1977, Cuba sent its combat troops from Angola, the People's Republic of the Congo, and the Caribbean to Ethiopia,[136] assisted by mechanized Soviet battalions, to help defeat a Somali invasion. On 24 January 1978, Ethiopian and Cuban troops counterattacked, inflicting 3,000 casualties on the Somali forces.[136] In February, Cuban troops launched a major offensive and forced the Somali army back into its own territory.[136][142] Cuban forces remained in Ethiopia until 9 September 1989.[136] Despite Cuba's small size and the long distance separating it from the Middle East, Castro's Cuba played an active role in the region during the Cold War. In 1972, a major Cuban military mission consisting of tank, air, and artillery specialists was dispatched to South Yemen. Cuban military advisors were sent to Iraq in the mid-1970s but their mission was canceled after Iraq invaded Iran in 1980.[136] The Cubans were also involved in the Syrian-Israeli War of Attrition (November 1973–May 1974) that followed the Yom Kippur War (October 1973).[143] Israeli sources reported the presence of a Cuban tank brigade in the Golan Heights, which was supported by two brigades.[144] The Israelis and the Cuban-Syrian tank forces engaged in battle on the Golan front.[145]: 37–38  The standard of living in the 1970s was "extremely spartan" and discontent was rife.[146] Fidel Castro admitted the failures of economic policies in a 1970 speech.[146] In 1975, the OAS lifted its sanctions against Cuba, with the approval of 16 member states, including the United States. The U.S., however, maintained its own sanctions.[129] In 1979, the U.S. objected to the presence of Soviet combat troops on the island.[51] Following the 1983 coup that resulted in the execution of Grenadian Prime Minister Maurice Bishop and establishment of the military government led by Hudson Austin, U.S. forces invaded Grenada in 1983, overthrowing the regime. Most resistance came from Cuban construction workers, while the Grenadan People's Revolutionary Army and militia surrendered without putting up much of a fight. 24 Cubans were killed, with only 2 of them being professional soldiers, and the remainder were expelled from the island.[51][failed verification] U.S. casualties amounted to 19 killed, 116 wounded, and 9 helicopters destroyed. During the 1970s and 1980s, Castro supported Marxist insurgencies in Guatemala, El Salvador, and Nicaragua. Cuba gradually withdrew its troops from Angola in 1989–91.[136] An important psychological and political aspect of the Cuban military involvement in Africa was the significant presence of black or mixed-race soldiers among the Cuban forces.[136][p] According to one source, more than 300,000 Cuban military personnel and civilian experts were deployed in Africa. The source also states that out of the 50,000 Cubans sent to Angola, half contracted AIDS and that 10,000 Cubans died as a consequence of their military actions in Africa.[136] Soviet troops began to withdraw from Cuba in September 1991,[51] and Castro's rule was severely tested in the aftermath of the Soviet collapse in December 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.[148][149] The government did not accept American donations of food, medicines and cash until 1993.[148] On 5 August 1994, state security dispersed protesters in a spontaneous protest in Havana. From the start of the crisis to 1995, Cuba saw its gross domestic product (GDP) shrink by 35%. It took another five years for its GDP to reach pre-crisis levels.[150] 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, former 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".[151][152] In February 2008, Fidel Castro announced his resignation as President of the State Council following the onset of his reported serious gastrointestinal illness in July 2006.[153] On 24 February his brother, Raúl Castro, was declared the new president.[154] In his inauguration speech, Raúl promised that some of the restrictions on freedom in Cuba would be removed.[155] In March 2009, Raúl Castro removed some of his brother's appointees.[156] On 3 June 2009, the Organization of American States adopted a resolution to end the 47-year ban on Cuban membership of the group.[157] The resolution stated, however, that full membership would be delayed until Cuba was "in conformity with the practices, purposes, and principles of the OAS".[129] Fidel Castro restated his position that he was not interested in joining after the OAS resolution had been announced.[158] Raúl Castro and U.S. President Barack Obama at their joint press conference in Havana, Cuba, 21 March 2016 Effective 14 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.[159][160][161] In 1961 the Cuban government had imposed broad restrictions on travel to prevent the mass emigration of people after the 1959 revolution;[162] it approved exit visas only on rare occasions.[163] 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.[164] 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.[165] In the first year of the program, over 180,000 left Cuba and returned.[166] 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.[167] Cuba approved a new constitution in 2019. The optional vote attracted 84.4% of eligible voters. 90% of those who voted approved of the new constitution and 9% opposed it. The new constitution states that the Communist Party is the only legitimate political party, describes access to health and education as fundamental rights, imposes presidential term limits, enshrines the right to legal representation upon arrest, recognizes private property, and strengthens the rights of multinationals investing with the state.[168] Any form of discrimination harmful to human dignity is banned under the new constitution.[169] In July 2021, there were several large protests against the government under the banner of Patria y Vida. Protests included support from both right-leaning and left-leaning anti-regime Cuban exiles.[170][171][172] The song associated with the movement received international acclaim including a Latin Grammy Award.[173] On 25 September 2022, Cuba approved a referendum which amended the Family Code to legalise same-sex marriage and allow surrogate pregnancy and same-sex adoption. Gender reassignment surgery and transgender hormone therapy are provided free of charge under Cuba’s national healthcare system. The proposed changes were supported by the government and opposed by conservatives and parts of the opposition. Official policies of the Cuban government from 1959 until the 1990s were hostile towards homosexuality, with the LGBT community marginalized on the basis of heteronormativity, traditional gender roles, and strict criteria for moralism.[169][174] Government and politics Main article: Politics of Cuba Miguel Díaz-Canel Miguel Díaz-Canel First Secretary of the Communist Party and President of Cuba Manuel Marrero Cruz Manuel Marrero Cruz Prime Minister Salvador Valdés Mesa Salvador Valdés Mesa Vice President Esteban Lazo Hernández Esteban Lazo Hernández President of the National Assembly The Republic of Cuba is one of the few 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."[175] The constitution describes the Communist Party of Cuba as the "leading force of society and of the state".[175] The First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba is the most senior position in the one-party state.[176] The First Secretary leads the Politburo and the Secretariat, making the office holder the most powerful person in Cuban government.[177] Members of both councils are elected by the National Assembly of People's Power.[175] The President of Cuba, who is also elected by the Assembly, serves for five years and since the ratification of the 2019 Constitution, there is a limit of two consecutive five-year terms.[175] The headquarters of the Communist Party The People's Supreme Court serves as Cuba's highest judicial branch of government. It is also the court of last resort for all appeals against the decisions of provincial courts. Cuba's national legislature, the National Assembly of People's Power (Asamblea Nacional de Poder Popular), is the supreme organ of power; 609 members serve five-year terms.[175] The assembly meets twice a year; between sessions legislative power is held by the 31 member Council of Ministers. Candidates for the Assembly are approved by public referendum. All Cuban citizens over 16 who have not been convicted of a criminal offense can vote.[178] Article 131 of the Constitution states that voting shall be "through free, equal and secret vote".[175] Article 136 states: "In order for deputies or delegates to be considered elected they must get more than half the number of valid votes cast in the electoral districts".[175] There are elections in Cuba, but they are not considered democratic.[179][180] In elections for the National Assembly of People's Power there is only one candidate for each seat, and candidates are nominated by committees that are firmly controlled by the Communist Party.[181][182] Most legislative districts elect multiple representatives to the Assembly. Voters can select individual candidates on their ballot, select every candidate, or leave every question blank, with no option to vote against candidates.[183][184] No political party is permitted to nominate candidates or campaign on the island, including the Communist Party.[185] The Communist Party of Cuba has held six party congress meetings since 1975. In 2011, the party stated that there were 800,000 members, and representatives generally constitute at least half of the Councils of state and the National Assembly. The remaining positions are filled by candidates nominally without party affiliation. Other political parties campaign and raise finances internationally, while activity within Cuba by opposition groups is minimal. Cuba is considered an authoritarian regime according to The Economist's Democracy Index[186] and Freedom in the World reports.[187] More specifically, Cuba is considered a military dictatorship in the Democracy-Dictatorship Index,[188] and has been described as "a militarized society"[189] with the armed forces having long been the most powerful institution in the country.[190] In February 2013, President of the State Council 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.[191] 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.[192] Miguel Díaz-Canel was elected president on 18 April 2018 after the resignation of Raúl Castro. On 19 April 2021, Miguel Díaz-Canel became First Secretary of the Communist Party. He is the first non-Castro to be in such top position since the Cuban revolution of 1959.[193] Foreign relations Main article: Foreign relations of Cuba See also: Cuban medical internationalism Propaganda sign in front of the United States Interests Section in Havana Cuba has conducted a foreign policy that is uncharacteristic of such a minor, developing country.[194][195] Under Castro, Cuba was heavily involved in wars in Africa, Central America and Asia. Cuba supported Algeria in 1961–1965,[196] and sent tens of thousands of troops to Angola during the Angolan Civil War.[197] Other countries that featured Cuban involvement include Ethiopia,[198][199] Guinea,[200] Guinea-Bissau,[201] Mozambique,[202] and Yemen.[203] Lesser known actions include the 1959 missions to the Dominican Republic.[204][unreliable source?] The expedition failed, but a prominent monument to its members was erected in their memory in Santo Domingo by the Dominican government, and they feature prominently at the country's Memorial Museum of the Resistance.[205] In 2008, the European Union (EU) and Cuba agreed to resume full relations and cooperation activities.[206] Cuba is a founding member of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas.[207] At the end of 2012, tens of thousands of Cuban medical personnel worked abroad,[208] with as many as 30,000 doctors in Venezuela alone via the two countries' oil-for-doctors programme.[209] Raúl Castro with Mongolian President Elbegdorj during the Moscow Victory Day Parade, 9 May 2015 In 1996, the United States, then under President Bill Clinton, brought in the Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity Act, better known as the Helms–Burton Act.[210] In 2009, United States President Barack Obama stated on 17 April, in Trinidad and Tobago that "the United States seeks a new beginning with Cuba",[211] and reversed the Bush Administration's prohibition on travel and remittances by Cuban-Americans from the United States to Cuba.[212] Five years later, an agreement between the United States and Cuba, popularly called the "Cuban thaw", brokered in part by Canada and Pope Francis, began the process of restoring international relations between the two countries. They agreed to release political prisoners and the United States began the process of creating an embassy in Havana.[213][214][215][216][217] This was realized on 30 June 2015, when Cuba and the U.S. reached a deal to reopen embassies in their respective capitals on 20 July 2015[218] and reestablish diplomatic relations.[219] Earlier in the same year, the White House announced that President Obama would remove Cuba from the American government's list of nations that sponsor terrorism,[220][221] which Cuba reportedly welcomed as "fair".[222] On 17 September 2017, the United States considered closing its Cuban embassy following mysterious medical symptoms experienced by its staff.[223] In the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the ongoing international isolation of Russia, Cuba emerged as one of the few countries that maintained friendly relations with the Russian Federation.[224][225] Cuban president Miguel Diaz-Canel visited Vladimir Putin in Moscow in November 2022, where the two leaders opened a monument of Fidel Castro, as well as speaking out against U.S. sanctions against Russia and Cuba.[226] Embargo by the United States (1960 – present) Since 1960, the United States has placed a continued embargo against Cuba. The Cuban Democracy Act of 1992 states that sanctions will continue "so long as it continues to refuse to move toward democratization and greater respect for human rights".[227][non-primary source needed] American diplomat Lester D. Mallory wrote an internal memo on April 6, 1960, arguing in favor of an embargo: "The only foreseeable means of alienating internal support is through disenchantment and disaffection based on economic dissatisfaction and hardship. [...] to decrease monetary and real wages, to bring about hunger, desperation and overthrow of government."[228][229] The UN General Assembly has passed a resolution every year since 1992 condemning the embargo and stating that it violates the Charter of the United Nations and international law.[230] Cuba considers the embargo a human rights violation.[231] On 17 December 2014, United States President Barack Obama announced the re-establishment of diplomatic relations with Cuba, pushing for Congress to put an end to the embargo,[232] as well as the United States-run Guantanamo Bay detention camp. These diplomatic improvements were later reversed by the Trump Administration, which enacted new rules and re-enforced the business and travel restrictions which were loosened by the Obama Administration.[233] These sanctions were inherited and strengthened by the Biden Administration.[234] Military Main article: Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces As of 2018, Cuba spent about US$91.8 million on its armed forces or 2.9% of its GDP.[235] In 1985, Cuba devoted more than 10% of its GDP to military expenditures.[236] During the Cold War, Cuba built up one of the largest armed forces in Latin America, second only to that of Brazil.[237] From 1975 until the late 1980s, Soviet military assistance enabled Cuba to upgrade its military capabilities. After the loss of Soviet subsidies, Cuba scaled down the numbers of military personnel, from 235,000 in 1994 to about 49,000 in 2021.[238][239] In 2017, Cuba signed the UN treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.[240] Law enforcement Main article: Law enforcement in Cuba See also: Crime in Cuba A Lada Riva police car in Holguín All law enforcement agencies are maintained under Cuba's Ministry of the Interior, which is supervised by the Revolutionary Armed Forces. In Cuba, citizens can receive police assistance by dialing "106" on their telephones.[241] The police force, which is referred to as "Policía Nacional Revolucionaria" or PNR is then expected to provide help. The Cuban government also has an agency called the Intelligence Directorate that conducts intelligence operations and maintains close ties with the Russian Federal Security Service.[242][243] Administrative divisions Main articles: Provinces of Cuba and Municipalities of Cuba 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. Provinces of Cuba Pinar del Río Artemisa Havana Mayabeque Matanzas Cienfuegos Villa Clara Sancti Spíritus Ciego de Ávila Camagüey Las Tunas Granma Holguín Santiago de Cuba Guantánamo Isla de la Juventud Human rights Main articles: Human rights in Cuba, LGBT rights in Cuba, Women's rights in Cuba, Censorship in Cuba, and Cuban dissidents Ladies in White demonstration in Havana (April 2012) In 2003, the European Union (EU) accused the Cuban government of "continuing flagrant violation of human rights and fundamental freedoms".[244] As of 2009, it has continued to call regularly for social and economic reform in Cuba, along with the unconditional release of all political prisoners.[245] Cuba was ranked 19th by the number of imprisoned journalists of any nation in 2021 according to various sources, including the Committee to Protect Journalists and Human Rights Watch.[246][247] Cuba ranks 171st out of 180 on the 2020 World Press Freedom Index.[248] In July 2010, the unofficial Cuban Human Rights Commission said there were 167 political prisoners in Cuba, a fall from 201 at the start of the year. The head of the commission stated that long prison sentences were being replaced by harassment and intimidation.[249] Economy Main article: Economy of Cuba Further information: Dual economy of Cuba, Rationing in Cuba, and Sociolismo See also: United States embargo against Cuba Historical GDP per capita development Cuban exports by value, 2019 The Cuban state asserts its adherence to socialist principles in organizing its largely state-controlled planned economy. Most of the means of production are owned and run by the government and most of the labor force is employed by the state. Recent years have seen a trend 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.[250] Government spending is 78.1% of GDP.[251] Since the early 2010s, following the initial market reforms, it has become popular to describe the economy as being, or moving toward, market socialism.[252][253][254] Any firm that hires a Cuban must pay the Cuban government, which in turn pays the employee in Cuban pesos.[255] The average monthly wage as of July 2013 was 466 Cuban pesos—about US$19.[256] However, after an economic reform in January 2021, the minimum wage is about 2100 CUP (US$17.50) and the median wage is about 4000 CUP (US$33).[citation needed] Cuba had Cuban pesos (CUP) set at par with the US dollar before 1959.[256] Every Cuban household has a ration book (known as libreta) entitling it to a monthly supply of food and other staples, which are provided at nominal cost.[257] According to the Havana Consulting Group, in 2014, remittances to Cuba amounted to US$3,129 million, the seventh highest in Latin America.[258] In 2019, remittances had grown to US$6,616 million, but dropped down to US$1,967 million in 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[259] The pandemic has also devastated Cuba's tourist industry, which along with a tightening of U.S. sanctions, has led to large increase in emigration among younger working-age Cubans. It has been described as a crisis that is "threatening the stability" of Cuba, which "already has one of the hemisphere’s oldest populations".[260] History Before the 1959 revolution, Cuba was one of the richest countries in Latin America. Significant inequalities existed between city and countryside and between whites and blacks. Health care and education were not available to the rural poor, many of whom were seriously undernourished.[261] The country's economy in the middle part of the 20th century, fuelled by the sale of sugar to the United States, had grown wealthy. Cuba ranked 5th in the hemisphere in per capita income, 3rd in life expectancy, 2nd in per capita ownership of automobiles and telephones, and 1st in the number of television sets per inhabitant. Cuba's literacy rate, 76%, was the fourth highest in Latin America although two-thirds of the people received three years of education or less; one-third never attended school and half the adult population could neither read nor write.[262] Cuba also ranked 11th in the world in the number of doctors per capita, although there was massive inequality in the distribution of doctors; for example more than 60% of all doctors lived and worked in Havana in 1958 and even when they worked outside Havana province they typically worked in other provincial capitals.[263] US companies dominated the Cuban economy before the Revolution, controlling 80% of Cuba's trade. US firms ran public utilities, the railroad, and all of the oil refineries. Two-thirds of food production came from US-owned agro-business enterprises. US developers owned half of the arable land on the island.[262] Just 8% of landholders owned three-quarters of the land. At least 25% of the population was unemployed. 20% of the population received 58% of the income, while the bottom 20% took in just 2%.[262] According to PBS, a thriving middle class held the promise of prosperity and social mobility.[261] According to Cuba historian Louis Perez of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, "Havana was then what Las Vegas has become."[264] Cigar production in Santiago de Cuba 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, valued at $65 billion in subsidies in total from 1960 to 1990. This accounted for between 10% and 40% of Cuban GDP, depending on the year.[265] The loss of these subsidies sent the Cuban economy into a rapid depression known in Cuba as the Special Period, which saw the country's GDP decline by 33% between 1990 and 1993.[266] 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. The U.S. embargo against Cuba was instituted in 1960 in response to nationalization of U.S.-citizen-held property and was maintained on the grounds of perceived human rights violations. It is widely viewed that the embargo hurt the Cuban economy. In 2009, the Cuban Government estimated this loss at $685 million annually.[267] In 2005, Cuba had exports of US$2.4 billion, ranking 114 of 226 world countries, and imports of US$6.9 billion, ranking 87 of 226 countries.[268] Its major export partners are Canada 17.7%, China 16.9%, Venezuela 12.5%, Netherlands 9%, and Spain 5.9% (2012).[269] Cuba's major exports are sugar, nickel, tobacco, fish, medical products, citrus fruits, and coffee;[269] imports include food, fuel, clothing, and machinery. Cuba presently holds debt in an amount estimated at $13 billion,[270] approximately 38% of GDP.[271] According to The Heritage Foundation, Cuba is dependent on credit accounts that rotate from country to country.[272] Cuba's prior 35% supply of the world's export market for sugar has declined to 10% due to a variety of factors, including a global sugar commodity price drop that made Cuba less competitive on world markets.[273] It was announced in 2008 that wage caps would be abandoned to improve the nation's productivity.[274] Cuba's leadership has called for reforms in the country's agricultural system. 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.[275] Venezuela supplies Cuba with an estimated 110,000 barrels (17,000 m3) of oil per day in exchange for money and the services of some 44,000 Cubans, most of them medical personnel, in Venezuela.[276][277] Cubans are now permitted to own small businesses in certain sectors. In 2010, Cubans were allowed to build their own houses. According to Raúl Castro, they could now improve their houses, but the government would not endorse these new houses or improvements.[278] There is virtually no homelessness in Cuba,[279][280] and 85% of Cubans own their homes[281] and pay no property taxes or mortgage interest. Mortgage payments may not exceed 10% of a household's combined income.[citation needed]. On 2 August 2011, The New York Times reported that Cuba reaffirmed its intent to legalize "buying and selling" of private property before the year's end. According to experts, the private sale of property could "transform Cuba more than any of the economic reforms announced by President Raúl Castro's government".[282] It would cut more than one million state jobs, including party bureaucrats who resist the changes.[283] The reforms created what some call "New Cuban Economy".[284][285] In October 2013, Raúl said he intended to merge the two currencies, but as of August 2016, the dual currency system remains in force. Tobacco fields in Viñales In August 2012, a specialist of the "Cubaenergia Company" announced the opening of Cuba's first Solar Power Plant. As a member of the Cubasolar Group, there was also a mention of ten additional plants in 2013.[286] In 2016, the Miami Herald wrote, "... about 27 percent of Cubans earn under $50 per month; 34 percent earn the equivalent of $50 to $100 per month; and 20 percent earn $101 to $200. Twelve percent reported earning $201 to $500 a month; and almost 4 percent said their monthly earnings topped $500, including 1.5 percent who said they earned more than $1,000."[287] In May 2019, Cuba imposed rationing of staples such as chicken, eggs, rice, beans, soap and other basic goods. (Some two-thirds of food in the country is imported.) 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.[288] In June 2019, the government announced an increase in public sector wages of about 300%, specifically for teachers and health personnel.[289] In October, the government allowed stores to purchase house equipment and similar items, using international currency, and send it to Cuba by the Cuban emigration. The leaders of the government recognized that the new measures were unpopular but necessary to contain the capital flight to other countries as Panamá where Cuban citizens traveled and imported items to resell on the island. Other measures included allowing private companies to export and import, through state companies, resources to produce products and services in Cuba. On January 1, 2021, Cuba's dual currency system was formally ended, and the convertible Cuban peso (CUC) was phased out, leaving the Cuban peso (CUP) as the country's sole currency unit. Cuban citizens had until June 2021 to exchange their CUCs. However, this devalued the Cuban peso and caused economic problems for people who had been previously paid in CUCs, particularly workers in the tourism industry.[290][291][292] Also, in February, the government dictated new measures to the private sector, with prohibitions for only 124 activities,[293] in areas like national security, health and educational services.[294] The wages were increased again, between 4 and 9 times, for all the sectors. Also, new facilities were allowed to the state companies, with much more autonomy.[291] The first problems of the new reform, for the public opinion, were with the electricity prices, but that was amended quickly. Other measures corrected were in the prices to the private farmers.[citation needed] In July 2020, Cuba opened new stores accepting only foreign currency while simultaneously eliminating a special tax on the U.S. dollar[295] to combat an economic crisis arising initially due to economic sanctions imposed by the Trump administration,[296] then later worsened by a lack of tourism during the coronavirus pandemic. These economic sanctions have since been sustained by the Biden administration.[297] Resources Cuba's natural resources include sugar, tobacco, fish, citrus fruits, coffee, beans, rice, potatoes, and livestock. Cuba's most important mineral resource is nickel, with 21% of total exports in 2011.[298] The output of Cuba's nickel mines that year was 71,000 tons, approaching 4% of world production.[299] As of 2013 its reserves were estimated at 5.5 million tons, over 7% of the world total.[299] Sherritt International of Canada operates a large nickel mining facility in Moa. Cuba is also a major producer of refined cobalt, a by-product of nickel mining.[300] Oil exploration in 2005 by the US Geological Survey revealed that the North Cuba Basin could produce about 4.6 billion barrels (730,000,000 m3) to 9.3 billion barrels (1.48×109 m3) of oil. In 2006, Cuba started to test-drill these locations for possible exploitation.[301] Tourism Main article: Tourism in Cuba Historic Centre of Camagüey, a colonial city UNESCO World Heritage Site. Varadero resort beach Tourism was initially restricted to enclave resorts where tourists would be segregated from Cuban society, referred to as "enclave tourism" and "tourism apartheid".[302] Contact between foreign visitors and ordinary Cubans were de facto illegal between 1992 and 1997.[303] The rapid growth of tourism during the Special Period had widespread social and economic repercussions in Cuba, and led to speculation about the emergence of a two-tier economy.[304] 1.9 million tourists visited Cuba in 2003, predominantly from Canada and the European Union, generating revenue of US$2.1 billion.[305] Cuba recorded 2,688,000 international tourists in 2011, the third-highest figure in the Caribbean (behind the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico).[306] The medical tourism sector caters to thousands of European, Latin American, Canadian, and American consumers every year. A recent study indicates that Cuba has a potential for mountaineering activity, and that mountaineering could be a key contributor to tourism, along with other activities, e.g. biking, diving, caving. Promoting these resources could contribute to regional development, prosperity, and well-being.[307] The Cuban Justice minister downplays allegations of widespread sex tourism.[308] According to a Government of Canada travel advice website, "Cuba is actively working to prevent child sex tourism, and a number of tourists, including Canadians, have been convicted of offences related to the corruption of minors aged 16 and under. Prison sentences range from 7 to 25 years."[309] Some tourist facilities were extensively damaged on 8 September 2017 when Hurricane Irma hit the island. The storm made landfall in the Camagüey Archipelago; the worst damage was in the keys north of the main island, however, and not in the most significant tourist areas.[310] Transport Main article: Transport in Cuba Geography Main articles: Geography of Cuba, Environment of Cuba, and List of islands of Cuba Topographic map of Cuba Cuba is an archipelago of nearly 4,200 islands, cays and islets located in the northern Caribbean Sea at the confluence with the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean. It lies between latitudes 19° and 24°N, and longitudes 74° and 85°W. The United States (Key West, Florida) lies 150 km (93 miles) across the Straits of Florida to the north and northwest, and The Bahamas (Cay Lobos) 21 km (13 mi) to the north. Mexico lies 210 km (130.5 mi) west across the Yucatán Channel (to the closest tip of Cabo Catoche in the State of Quintana Roo). Haiti is 77 km (47.8 mi) east and Jamaica 140 km (87 mi) south. Cuba is the principal island, surrounded by four smaller groups of islands: the Colorados Archipelago on the northwestern coast, the Sabana-Camagüey Archipelago on the north-central Atlantic coast, the Jardines de la Reina on the south-central coast and the Canarreos Archipelago on the southwestern coast. The main island, named Cuba, is 1,250 km (780 mi) long, constituting most of the nation's land area (104,556 km2 or 40,369 sq mi) and is the largest island in the Caribbean and 17th-largest island in the world by land area. The main island consists mostly of flat to rolling plains apart from the Sierra Maestra mountains in the southeast, whose highest point is Pico Turquino (1,974 m or 6,476 ft). The second-largest island is Isla de la Juventud (Isle of Youth) in the Canarreos archipelago, with an area of 2,200 km2 (850 sq mi). Cuba has an official area (land area) of 109,884 km2 (42,426 sq mi). Its area is 110,860 km2 (42,803 sq mi) including coastal and territorial waters. Climate Main article: Climate of Cuba Köppen climate classification of Cuba With the entire island south of the Tropic of Cancer, the local climate is tropical, moderated by northeasterly trade winds that blow year-round. The temperature is also shaped by the Caribbean current, which brings in warm water from the equator. This makes the climate of Cuba warmer than that of Hong Kong, which is at around the same latitude as Cuba but has a subtropical rather than a tropical climate. In general (with local variations), there is a drier season from November to April, and a rainier season from May to October. The average temperature is 21 °C (70 °F) in January and 27 °C (81 °F) in July. The warm temperatures of the Caribbean Sea and the fact that Cuba sits across the entrance to the Gulf of Mexico combine to make the country prone to frequent hurricanes. These are most common in September and October. Hurricane Irma hit the island on 8 September 2017, with winds of 260 km/h (72 m/s),[311] at the Camagüey Archipelago; the storm reached Ciego de Avila province around midnight and continued to pound Cuba the next day.[312] The worst damage was in the keys north of the main island. Hospitals, warehouses and factories were damaged; much of the north coast was without electricity. By that time, nearly a million people, including tourists, had been evacuated.[310] The Varadero resort area also reported widespread damage; the government believed that repairs could be completed before the start of the main tourist season.[313] Subsequent reports indicated that ten people had been killed during the storm, including seven in Havana, most during building collapses. Sections of the capital had been flooded.[313] Biodiversity The Cuban trogon is the island's national bird. Its white, red and blue feathers match those of the Cuban flag. Cuba signed the Rio Convention on Biological Diversity on 12 June 1992, and became a party to the convention on 8 March 1994.[314] It has subsequently produced a National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan, with one revision, that the convention received on 24 January 2008.[315] The country's fourth national report to the CBD contains a detailed breakdown of the numbers of species of each kingdom of life recorded from Cuba, the main groups being: animals (17,801 species), bacteria (270), chromista (707), fungi, including lichen-forming species (5844), plants (9107) and protozoa (1440).[316] The native bee hummingbird or zunzuncito is the world's smallest known bird, with a length of 55 mm (2+1⁄8 in). The Cuban trogon or tocororo is the national bird of Cuba and an endemic species. Hedychium coronarium, named mariposa in Cuba, is the national flower.[317] Cuba is home to six terrestrial ecoregions: Cuban moist forests, Cuban dry forests, Cuban pine forests, Cuban wetlands, Cuban cactus scrub, and Greater Antilles mangroves.[318] It had a 2019 Forest Landscape Integrity Index mean score of 5.4/10, ranking it 102nd globally out of 172 countries.[319] According to a 2012 study, Cuba is the only country in the world to meet the conditions of sustainable development put forth by the WWF.[320] Demographics Main articles: Cuban people and Demographics of Cuba Population[321][322] Year Million 1950 5.9 2000 11.1 2021 11.3 According to the official census of 2010, Cuba's population was 11,241,161, comprising 5,628,996 men and 5,612,165 women.[323] Its birth rate (9.88 births per thousand population in 2006)[324] is one of the lowest in the Western Hemisphere. Although the country's population has grown by about four million people since 1961, the rate of growth slowed during that period, and the population began to decline in 2006, due to the country's low fertility rate (1.43 children per woman) coupled with emigration.[325] Migration Immigration Main articles: French immigration to Cuba and Spanish immigration to Cuba 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 and 1930 alone, close to a million Spaniards entered the country, though many would eventually return to Spain.[326] Other prominent immigrant groups included French,[327] 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. As of 2015, the foreign-born population in Cuba was 13,336 inhabitants per the World Bank data.[328] Emigration Main articles: Cubans, Cuban exile, and Cuban immigration to the United States North Hudson, New Jersey, is home to a large Cuban American population. 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 of all social classes—constituting 10% of the total population—emigrated to the United States, a proportion that matches the extent of emigration to the U.S. from the Caribbean as a whole during that period.[329][330][331][332][333] Prior to 13 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.[334] Those who left the country typically did so by sea, in small boats and fragile rafts. On 9 September 1994, the U.S. and Cuban governments agreed that the U.S. would grant at least 20,000 visas annually in exchange for Cuba's pledge to prevent further unlawful departures on boats.[335] As of 2013 the top emigration destinations were the United States, Spain, Italy, Puerto Rico, and Mexico.[336] Following a tightening of U.S. sanctions and damage to the tourist industry by the COVID-19 pandemic, emigration has accelerated. In 2022, more than 2% of the population (almost 250,000 Cubans out of 11 million) migrated to the United States, and thousands more went to other countries, a number "larger than the 1980 Mariel boatlift and the 1994 Cuban rafter crisis combined", which were Cuba's previous largest migration events.[260] Fertility Population age pyramid of Cuba in 2020 As of 2022 Cuba's fertility rate is 1.582 births per woman.[337] Cuba's drop in fertility is among the largest in the Western Hemisphere[338] and is attributed largely to unrestricted access to legal abortion: Cuba's abortion rate was 58.6 per 1000 pregnancies in 1996, compared to an average of 35 in the Caribbean, 27 in Latin America overall, and 48 in Europe. Similarly, the use of contraceptives is also widespread, estimated at 79% of the female population (in the upper third of countries in the Western Hemisphere).[339] Ethnoracial groups 2012 Cuban census data[340] Race White   64.1% Mulatto   26.6% Black   9.3% Mixed heritage is common in Cuba, shown in this 1919 photograph of the Barrientos family, headed by a former Spanish soldier and an indigenous woman from Baracoa, Cuba. Cuba's population is multiethnic, reflecting its complex colonial origins. Intermarriage between diverse groups is widespread, and consequently there is some discrepancy in reports of the country's racial composition: whereas the Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies at the University of Miami determined that 62% of Cubans are black using the one drop rule,[341] the 2002 Cuban census found that a similar proportion of the population, 65.05%, was white. In fact, the Minority Rights Group International determined that "An objective assessment of the situation of Afro-Cubans remains problematic due to scant records and a paucity of systematic studies both pre- and post-revolution. Estimates of the percentage of people of African descent in the Cuban population vary enormously, ranging from 34% to 62%".[342] A 2014 study found that, based on ancestry informative markers (AIM), autosomal genetic ancestry in Cuba is 72% European, 20% African, and 8% Indigenous.[343] Around 35% of maternal lineages derive from Cuban Indigenous People, compared to 39% from Africa and 26% from Europe, but male lineages were European (82%) and African (18%), indicating a historical bias towards mating between foreign men and native women rather than the inverse.[343] Asians make up about 1% of the population, and are largely of Chinese ancestry, followed by Japanese and Filipino.[344][345] Many are descendants of farm laborers brought to the island by Spanish and American contractors during the 19th and early 20th century.[346] The current recorded number of Cubans with Chinese ancestry is 114,240.[347] Afro-Cubans are descended primarily from the Yoruba people, Bantu people from the Congo basin, Kalabari tribe and Arará from the Dahomey[348] as well as several thousand North African refugees, most notably the Sahrawi Arabs of Western Sahara.[349] Religion Main article: Religion in Cuba Havana Cathedral, built between 1748 and 1777. In 2010, the Pew Forum estimated that religious affiliation in Cuba is 59.2% Christian, 23% unaffiliated, 17.4% folk religion (such as santería), and the remaining 0.4% consisting of other religions.[350] In a 2015 survey sponsored by Univision, 44% of Cubans said they were not religious and 9% did not give an answer while only 34% said they were Christian.[351] Cuba is officially a secular state. Religious freedom increased through the 1980s,[352] with the government amending the constitution in 1992 to drop the state's characterization as atheistic.[353] Roman Catholicism is the largest religion, with its origins in Spanish colonization. Despite less than half of the population identifying as Catholics in 2006, it nonetheless remains the dominant faith.[272] Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI visited Cuba in 1998 and 2011, respectively, and Pope Francis visited Cuba in September 2015.[354][355] Prior to each papal visit, the Cuban government pardoned prisoners as a humanitarian gesture.[356][357] The government's relaxation of restrictions on house churches in the 1990s led to an explosion of Pentecostalism, with some groups claiming as many as 100,000 members. However, Evangelical Protestant denominations, organized into the umbrella Cuban Council of Churches, remain much more vibrant and powerful.[358] The religious landscape of Cuba is also strongly defined by syncretisms 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. A breakdown of the followers of Afro-Cuban religions showed that most practitioners of Palo Mayombe were black and dark brown-skinned, most practitioners of Vodú were medium brown and light brown-skinned, and most practitioners of Santeria were light brown and white-skinned.[359] Cuba also hosts small communities of Jews (500 in 2012), Muslims, and members of the Baháʼí Faith.[360] Several well-known Cuban religious figures have operated outside the island, including the humanitarian and author Jorge Armando Pérez. Languages Main articles: Cuban Spanish and Lucumí language The official language of Cuba is Spanish and the vast majority of Cubans speak it. Spanish as spoken in Cuba is known as Cuban Spanish and is a form of Caribbean Spanish. Lucumí, a dialect of the West African language Yoruba, is also used as a liturgical language by practitioners of Santería,[361] and so only as a second language.[362] Haitian Creole is the second-most spoken language in Cuba, and is spoken by Haitian immigrants and their descendants.[363] Other languages spoken by immigrants include Galician and Corsican.[364] Education Main article: Education in Cuba University of Havana, founded in 1728 The University of Havana was founded in 1728 and there are a number of other well-established colleges and universities. In 1957, just before Castro came to power, the literacy rate was as low as fourth in the region at almost 80% according to the United Nations, yet higher than in Spain.[109] Castro created an entirely state-operated system and banned private institutions. School attendance is compulsory from ages six to the end of basic secondary education (normally at age 15), and all students, regardless of age or gender, wear school uniforms with the color denoting grade level. Primary education lasts for six years, secondary education is divided into basic and pre-university education.[365] Cuba's literacy rate of 99.8 percent[269][366] is the tenth-highest globally, largely due to the provision of free education at every level.[367] Cuba's high school graduation rate is 94 percent.[368] Higher education is provided by universities, higher institutes, higher pedagogical institutes, and higher polytechnic institutes. The Cuban Ministry of Higher Education operates a distance education program that provides regular afternoon and evening courses in rural areas for agricultural workers. Education has a strong political and ideological emphasis, and students progressing to higher education are expected to have a commitment to the goals of Cuba.[365] Cuba has provided state subsidized education to a limited number of foreign nationals at the Latin American School of Medicine.[369][370] According to the Webometrics Ranking of World Universities, the top-ranking universities in the country are Universidad de la Habana (1680th worldwide), Instituto Superior Politécnico José Antonio Echeverría (2893rd) and the University of Santiago de Cuba (3831st).[371] Health Main article: Healthcare in Cuba Life expectancy development in Cuba After the revolution, Cuba established a free public health system.[29] Cuba's life expectancy at birth is 79.87 years (77.53 for males and 82.35 for females). This ranks Cuba 59th in the world and 4th in the Americas, behind Canada, Chile and the United States.[372] Infant mortality declined from 32 infant deaths per 1,000 live births in 1957, to 10 in 1990–95,[373] 6.1 in 2000–2005 and 5.13 in 2009.[366][269] Historically, Cuba has ranked high in numbers of medical personnel and has made significant contributions to world health since the 19th century.[109] Today, Cuba has universal health care and despite persistent shortages of medical supplies, there is no shortage of medical personnel.[374] Primary care is available throughout the island and infant and maternal mortality rates compare favorably with those in developed nations.[374] That an impoverished nation like Cuba has health outcomes rivaling the developed world is referred to by researchers as the Cuban Health Paradox.[375] Cuba ranks 30th on the 2019 Bloomberg Healthiest Country Index, the highest ranking of a developing country.[376] Disease and infant mortality increased in the 1960s immediately after the revolution, when half of Cuba's 6,000 doctors left the country.[377] Recovery occurred by the 1980s,[95] and the country's health care has been widely praised.[378] The Communist government stated that universal health care was a priority of state planning and progress was made in rural areas.[379] After the revolution, the government increased rural hospitals from one to 62.[29] Like the rest of the Cuban economy, medical care suffered from severe material shortages following the end of Soviet subsidies in 1991, and a tightening of the U.S. embargo in 1992.[380] Challenges include low salaries for doctors,[381] poor facilities, poor provision of equipment, and the frequent absence of essential drugs.[382] Cuba has the highest doctor-to-population ratio in the world and has sent thousands of doctors to more than 40 countries around the world.[383] According to the World Health Organization, Cuba is "known the world over for its ability to train excellent doctors and nurses who can then go out to help other countries in need".[384] As of September 2014, there are around 50,000 Cuban-trained health care workers aiding 66 nations.[385] Cuban physicians have played a leading role in combating the Ebola virus epidemic in West Africa.[386] Preventative medicine is very important within the Cuban medical system, which provides citizens with easy to obtain regular health checks.[29] Import and export of pharmaceutical drugs is done by the Quimefa Pharmaceutical Business Group (FARMACUBA) under the Ministry of Basic Industry (MINBAS). This group also provides technical information for the production of these drugs.[387] Isolated from the West by the US embargo, Cuba developed the successful lung cancer vaccine, Cimavax, which is now available to US researchers for the first time, along with other novel Cuban cancer treatments. The vaccine has been available for free to the Cuban population since 2011.[388] According to Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center CEO Candace Johnson: "They've had to do more with less, so they've had to be even more innovative with how they approach things. For over 40 years, they have had a preeminent immunology community."[389] During the thaw in Cuba–U.S. relations starting in December 2014 under the Obama administration, a growing number of U.S. lung cancer patients traveled to Cuba to receive vaccine treatment. The end of the thaw under the Trump Administration has resulted in a tightening of travel restrictions, making it harder for U.S. citizens to travel to Cuba for treatment.[390] In 2015, Cuba became the first country to eradicate mother-to-child transmission of HIV and syphilis,[391] a milestone hailed by the World Health Organization as "one of the greatest public health achievements possible".[392] Largest cities See also: List of cities in Cuba    Largest cities or towns in Cuba According to the 2018 Estimate[393] Rank Name Province Pop. Havana Havana Santiago de Cuba Santiago de Cuba 1 Havana Havana 2,131,480 Camagüey Camagüey Holguín Holguín 2 Santiago de Cuba Santiago de Cuba 433,581 3 Camagüey Camagüey 308,902 4 Holguín Holguín 297,433 5 Santa Clara Villa Clara 216,854 6 Guantánamo Guantánamo 216,003 7 Victoria de Las Tunas Las Tunas 173,552 8 Bayamo Granma 159,966 9 Cienfuegos Cienfuegos 151,838 10 Pinar del Río Pinar del Río 145,193 Media Main article: Mass media in Cuba Users of a public WiFi hotspot in Havana, Cuba ETECSA opened 118 cybercafes across the country in 2013.[394] The government of Cuba provides an online encyclopedia website called EcuRed that operates in a "wiki" format.[395] Internet access is controlled, and e-mail is closely monitored.[396] Since 2018, access to Internet by mobile data is available. In 2019, 7.1 million Cubans could access the Internet.[397] The prices of connections, since[clarification needed] WiFi zones, or mobile data, or from houses through "Nauta Hogar" service have been decreasing, especially since the economic reform of January 2021, when all the salaries increased by at least 5 times, and the prices of Internet remain in the same point.[398][399] In 2021, it was reported that 7.7 million Cuban people have Internet access.[400] There were 6.14 million mobile connections in Cuba in January 2021.[400] Culture Main articles: Culture of Cuba and Architecture of Cuba A local musical house, Casa de la Trova in Santiago de Cuba Cuban culture is influenced by its melting pot of cultures, primarily those of Spain, Africa and the indigenous Taínos of Cuba. After the 1959 revolution, the government started a national literacy campaign, offered free education to all and established rigorous sports, ballet, and music programs.[401] Cuisine Main article: Cuban cuisine A traditional meal of ropa vieja (shredded flank steak in a tomato sauce base), black beans, yellow rice, plantains and fried yuca with beer Cuban-style tamales Cuban cuisine is a fusion of Spanish and Caribbean cuisines. Cuban recipes share spices and techniques with Spanish cooking, with some Caribbean influence in spice and flavor. Food rationing, which has been the norm in Cuba for the last four decades, restricts the common availability of these dishes.[402] The traditional Cuban meal is not served in courses; all food items are served at the same time. The typical meal could consist of plantains, black beans and rice, ropa vieja (shredded beef), Cuban bread, pork with onions, and tropical fruits. Black beans and rice, referred to as moros y cristianos (or moros for short), and plantains are staples of the Cuban diet. Many of the meat dishes are cooked slowly with light sauces. Garlic, cumin, oregano, and bay leaves are the dominant spices. Literature Main article: Cuban literature Cuban literature began to find its voice in the early 19th century. Dominant themes of independence and freedom were exemplified by José Martí, who led the Modernist movement in Cuban literature. Writers such as Nicolás Guillén and José Z. Tallet focused on literature as social protest. The poetry and novels of Dulce María Loynaz and José Lezama Lima have been influential. Romanticist Miguel Barnet, who wrote Everyone Dreamed of Cuba, reflects a more melancholy Cuba.[403][unreliable source?] Alejo Carpentier was important in the magic realism movement. Writers such as Reinaldo Arenas, Guillermo Cabrera Infante, and more recently Daína Chaviano, Pedro Juan Gutiérrez, Zoé Valdés, Guillermo Rosales and Leonardo Padura have earned international recognition in the post-revolutionary era, though many of these writers have felt compelled to continue their work in exile due to ideological control of media by the Cuban authorities.[citation needed] However, several Cuban writers continue living and writing in Cuba, including Miguel Barnet,[citation needed] Nancy Morejón,[404] Marta Rojas,[405][failed verification] Fina García Marruz,[406][failed verification] and Carilda Oliver Labra.[407][failed verification] Music Main article: Music of Cuba Gloria Estefan and Celia Cruz Cuban music is very rich and is the most commonly known expression of Cuban culture. The central form of this music is son, which has been the basis of many other musical styles like "Danzón de nuevo ritmo", mambo, cha-cha-chá and salsa music. Rumba ("de cajón o de solar") music originated in the early Afro-Cuban culture, mixed with Spanish elements of style.[408] The Tres was invented in Cuba from Spanish cordophone instruments models (the instrument is actually a fusion of elements from the Spanish guitar and lute). Other traditional Cuban instruments are of African origin, Taíno origin, or both, such as the maracas, güiro, marímbula and various wooden drums including the mayohuacán. Popular Cuban music of all styles has been enjoyed and praised widely across the world. Cuban classical music, which includes music with strong African and European influences, and features symphonic works as well as music for soloists, has received international acclaim thanks to composers like Ernesto Lecuona. Havana was the heart of the rap scene in Cuba when it began in the 1990s. In December 2012, the director of the Cuban Music Institute, Orlando Vistel, threatened to bar sexually explicit songs and music videos from public radio and television.[409][410] Recognized Cuban artists include Los Van Van orchestra, known as "the music machinery of Cuba",[411] pianists Chucho Valdés[412] and Frank Fernández (the latter won the Golden title[clarification needed] at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory),[413] and Omara Portuondo, member of the Buena Vista Social Club. Many Cuban artists have won Grammy Awards.[412] Between the youth, Buena Fe is a popular group.[414] Dance Main article: Dance in Cuba Cuban culture encompasses a wide range of dance forms.[415] Danzón was the official musical genre and dance of Cuba.[416] Mambo music and dance developed originally in Cuba, with further significant developments by Cuban musicians in Mexico and the US. The cha-cha-cha is another dance of Cuban origin,[417] while the Cuban bolero originated in Santiago de Cuba in the last quarter of the 19th century.[418] Concert dance is supported by the government and includes internationally renowned companies such as the Ballet Nacional de Cuba.[419] Salsa dancing originated in Cuba and Cuban salsa is danced around the world. Sports Main article: Sport in Cuba Due to historical associations with the United States, many Cubans participate in sports that are popular in North America, rather than sports traditionally played in other Latin American nations. Baseball is the most popular. Other popular sports include volleyball, boxing, athletics, wrestling, basketball and water sports.[420] Cuba is a dominant force in amateur boxing, consistently achieving high medal tallies in major international competitions. Boxers Rances Barthelemy and Erislandy Lara defected to the U.S. and Mexico respectively.[421][422] Cuba also provides a national team that competes in the Olympic Games.[423] Jose R. Capablanca was a Cuban world chess champion from 1921 to 1927.
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