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Republic of CubaRepública de Cuba
Flag Coat of arms of Cuba Coat of arms
Motto: Patria o Muerte  (Spanish) "Homeland or Death"
Anthem: La Bayamesa  ("The Bayamo Song")
Capitaland largest city	Havana
Official languages	Spanish
Government	Socialist republic
• President of the    Council of State	Fidel Castro Raúl Castro (acting)
Independence from Spain
• Declared	October 10 1868
• Republic declared	May 20 1902
• From the U.S. Administration	January 1 1959
• Water (%)	negligible
Population
• 2006 estimate	11,382,820 (73rd)
• 2002 census	11,177,743
GDP (PPP)	2005 estimate
• Total	39.17 billion (not ranked)
• Per capita	$3,500 (not ranked)
HDI (2004)	0.826 Error: Invalid HDI value (50th)
Currency	Peso (CUP) Convertible peso (CUC)
Time zone	UTC-5 (EST)
• Summer (DST)	UTC-4 ((Starts April 1; end date varies))
Calling code	53
ISO 3166 code	CU
Internet TLD	.cu
As shown on the obverse of the coins; see "this photo of a 1992 coin". Retrieved 2006-09-26. (Note that the Spanish word "Patria" is better translated into English as "Homeland" rather than "Fatherland" or "Motherland"). The Cuban constitution states that "Cuba is an independent and sovereign socialist state ... the name of the Cuban state is Republic of Cuba ". The usage "socialist republic" to describe the style of government of Cuba is nearly uniform, though forms of government have no universally agreed typology. For example, Atlapedia describes it as "Unitary Socialist Republic"; Encyclopedia Britannica omits the word "unitary", as do most sources. At the start of the Ten Years' War. From 1993 to 2004, the U.S. dollar was used in addition to the peso until the dollar was replaced by the convertible peso.

Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba (Spanish: Cuba or República de Cuba, IPA: ), consists of the island of Cuba (the largest of the Greater Antilles), the Isle of Youth and adjacent small islands. Cuba is located in the northern Caribbean at the confluence of the Caribbean Sea, the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean. Cuba is south of the eastern United States and the Bahamas, west of the Turks and Caicos Islands and Haiti and east of Mexico. The Cayman Islands and Jamaica are to the south.

Cuba is the most populous country in the Caribbean. Its culture and customs draw from several sources including the aboriginal Taíno and Ciboney peoples, the period of Spanish colonialism, the introduction of African slaves, and its proximity to the United States. The island has a tropical climate that is moderated by the surrounding waters; the warm currents of the Caribbean Sea and its location between water bodies also make Cuba prone to frequent hurricanes.

Provinces

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

Geography

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

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

Demographics

According to the CIA's World Factbook, Cuba is 51% mulatto (mixed white and black), 37% white, 11% black, and 1% Chinese. DNA studies have suggested that the contribution of indigenous neo-Taíno Nations to the general population may be more significant than formerly believed.

In the other hand according to the Cuban Government Census office: Oficina Nacional de Estadisticas ONE, based on 2002 Census data, Cuban population is distibute as followed:

Total Population: 11,177,743

Men: 5,597,233 Women: 5,580,510

White: 7,271,926 Black: 1,126,894 Mulato or mestizo: 2,778,923

For more information please,visit http://www.cubagob.cu/otras_info/censo/index.htm

The Chinese population in Cuba is descended mostly from laborers who arrived in the 19th century to build railroads and work in mines. Most stayed in Cuba, as they could not afford return passage to China.

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

Cuba's birth rate (11.6 births per thousand population in 2003) is one of the lowest in the Western Hemisphere. Its overall population has increased continuously from around 7 million in 1961 to over 11 million now, but the rate of increase has slowed in the last decades. The decrease in fertility rate - from 3.2 children per woman in 1970 to 1.5 in 1992 - is the third greatest in the Western Hemisphere, with only Guadeloupe and Jamaica showing larger decreases. Cuba, which has unrestricted access to legal abortion, has an abortion rate of 58.6 per 1000 pregnancies in 1996 compared to a Caribbean average of 35, a Latin American average of 27 (the latter mostly illegally performed), and a European average of 48. Additionally, contraceptive use is estimated at 79% (in the upper third of countries in the Western Hemisphere).

Immigration and emigration have had noticeable effects on the demographic profile of Cuba during the 20th century. Between 1900 and 1930, close to a million Spaniards arrived from Spain. Since 1959, over a million Cubans have left the island, primarily to Miami, Florida, where a vocal, well-educated and economically successful exile community exists (Cuban-American lobby). The emigration that occurred immediately after the Cuban Revolution was primarily of the upper and middle classes that were predominantly white, thus contributing to a demographic shift along with changes in birth rates and racial identifications among the various ethnic groups. Seeking to normalize migration between the two countries - particularly after the chaos that accompanied the Mariel boatlift - Cuba and the United States in 1994 agreed (in what is commonly called the 1994 Clinton-Castro accords) to limit emigration to the United States. Under this, the United States grants a specific number of visas to those wishing to emigrate (20,000 since 1994) while those Cubans picked up at sea trying to emigrate without a visa are returned to Cuba. U.S. law gives the Attorney General the discretion to grant permanent residence to Cuban natives or citizens seeking adjustment of status if they have been present in the United States for at least 1 year after admission or parole and are admissible as immigrants; these escapes are often daring and most ingenious. The number of Cubans who leave by sea is still about 2,000 a year, but the trend is upward at present. In 2005 an additional 7,610 Cuban emigrants from Cuba entered through the "southern border in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30". According to the Miami Herald, "Unlike most countries, Cuba requires its citizens to obtain exit permits when leaving the country; there are 533 Cubans with valid U.S. visas not allowed to leave". Human Rights Watch has criticized the Cuban restrictions on emigration and its alleged keeping of children as "hostages" in order to prevent defection by Cubans traveling abroad.

Religion

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

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

Protestantism, introduced from the United States in the 18th century, has seen a steady increase in popularity. 300,000 Cubans belong to the island’s 54 Protestant denominations. Pentecostalism has grown rapidly in recent years, and the Assemblies of God alone claims a membership of over 100,000 people. The Episcopal Church of Cuba claims 10,000 adherents. Cuba has small communities of Jews, Muslims and members of the Bahá'í faith. Havana has three active synagogues and one mosque. Most Jewish Cubans are descendants of Polish and Russian Jews who fled pogroms at the beginning of the 20th century. There is, however, a sizeable number of Sephardic Jews in Cuba, who trace their origin to Turkey (primarily Istanbul and Tarakya). Most of these Sephardic Jews live in the provinces, although they do maintain a synagogue in Havana. In the 1960s, almost 8,000 Jews left for Miami. In the 1990s, approximately 400 Jewish Cubans relocated to Israel in a co-ordinated exodus using visas provided by nations sympathetic to their desire to move to Israel.

Economy

Main Articles: Economy of Cuba, Tourism in Cuba

The Cuban Government adheres to socialist principles in organizing its largely state-controlled planned economy. Most of the means of production are owned and run by the government and most of the labor force is employed by the state. Recent years have seen a trend towards more private sector employment. By the year 2000, public sector employment was 77.5% and the private sector at 22.5% compared to the 1981 ratio of 91.8% to 8.2%. Capital investment is restricted and requires approval by the government. The Cuban government sets most prices and rations goods to citizens.

In the early 1990s, the end of Communist rule in Eastern Europe meant the end of Soviet subsidies for Cuba's state-run economy. Before the collapse of the Soviet Union, Cuba depended on Moscow for sheltered markets for its exports and substantial aid. The Soviets had been paying above-market prices for Cuban sugar, while providing Cuba with petroleum at below-market prices. The removal of these subsidies sent the Cuban economy into a rapid depression known in Cuba as the Special Period. In 1992, the United States tightened the trade embargo contributing to a drop in Cuban living standards which approached crisis point within a year.

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

At one time, Cuba was the world’s most important sugar producer and exporter. Production has fallen due to a series of hurricanes and droughts, which have devastated its crop area. In addition, a lack of investment in infrastructure has forced the closing of many mills.

In recent years, since the rise of Venezuela's democratic socialist President Hugo Chávez, Venezuelan economic aid has enabled Cuba to improve economically. Venezuela's assistance of the Cuban economy comes chiefly through its supply of up to 80,000 barrels of oil per day in exchange for professional services and agricultural products. In the last several years, Cuba has rolled back some of the market oriented measures undertaken in the 1990s. In 2004, Cuban officials publicly backed the Euro as a "global counter-balance to the U.S. dollar", and eliminated the US currency from circulation in its stores and businesses. Increased US government restrictions on travel by Cuban-Americans and on the numbers of dollars they could transport to Cuba strengthened Cuban government control over dollars circulating in the economy. In the last decade, Cubans had received between US$600 million and US$1 billion annually, mostly from family members in the U.S.

As late as 2001, studies have shown that the average Cuban's standard of living was lower than before the downturn of the post-Soviet period. Paramount issues have been state salaries failing to meet personal needs under the state rationing system chronically plagued with shortages. As the variety and amount of rationed goods available declined, Cubans increasingly turned to the black market to obtain basic food, clothing, household, and health amenities. In addition, petty corruption in state industries, such as the pilferage of state assets to sell on the black market, is still common.

In 2005 Cuba exported $2.4 billion, ranking 114 of 226 world countries, and imported $6.9 billion, ranking 87 of 226 countries. Its major export partners are the Netherlands, Canada and China; major import partners are Venezuela, Spain and the United States. Cuba's major exports are sugar, nickel, tobacco, fish, medical products, citrus, coffee and skilled labor; imports include food, fuel, clothing, and machinery. Cuba presently holds debt in an amount estimated to be $13 billion, approximately 38% of GDP. According to the Heritage Foundation, Cuba is dependent on credit accounts that rotate from country to country. Cuba's prior 35% supply of the world's export market for sugar has declined to 10% due to a variety of factors, including a global sugar commodity price drop making Cuba less competitive on world markets. Cuba holds 6.4% of the global market for nickel which constitutes about 25% of total Cuban exports. Recently, large reserves of oil were found in the North Cuba Basin leading US congress members Jeff Flake and Larry Craig to call for a repeal of the US embargo of Cuba.

Military

Under Fidel Castro, Cuba became a highly militarized society. From 1975 until the late 1980s, massive Soviet military assistance enabled Cuba to upgrade its military capabilities. Since the loss of Soviet subsidies Cuba has dramatically scaled down the numbers of military personnel, from 235,000 in 1994 to about 60,000 in 2003. The government now spends roughly 1.8% of GDP on military expenditures. The present Minister for the Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR) is Raúl Castro, Fidel Castro's brother, who had played a major part as a leader in the Cuban Revolution.

See also

Template:Topics related to Cuba

Notes

1. DePalma, Anthony (1998). "Cuban Site Casts Light on an Extinct People". New York Times. Retrieved 2006-07-09. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
2. Castro’s Cuba in Perspective
3. "Sahrawi children inhumanely treated in Cuba, former Cuban official". MoroccoTimes.com. 2006. Retrieved 2006-07-09. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
4. "Health in the Americas Vol 1, 1998" (PDF). paho.org. 1998. Retrieved 2006-07-09. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |month= (help)
5. "United Nations World Fertility Patterns 1997". un.org. 1997. Retrieved 2006-07-09. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |month= (help)
6. Stanley K. Henshaw, Susheela Singh and Taylor Haas. "The Incidence of Abortion Worldwide". International Family Planning Perspectives, 1999, 25(Supplement):S30–S38. Retrieved May 11. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help) This publication notes, however, that: The relatively high rate in Cuba (78 per 1,000 ) includes menstrual regulation, an early abortion procedure carried out without pregnancy testing, as well as termination of known pregnancies. In 1996, 60% of the procedures were menstrual regulations.
7. Quiñones, Rolando García Quiñones. "International Migrations in Cuba: persinting trends and changes". Technical Corporation. Retrieved 2006-07-09.
8. "Bill Clinton 1993-2001". history.acusd.edu. Retrieved 2006-07-09. {{cite web}}: Text "authorlink" ignored (help)
9. "Cuban Natives or Citizens Seeking Lawful Permanent Resident Status". U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. 1996. Retrieved 2006-07-09. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |month= (help)
10. "The requested article was not found". MiamiHerald.com. Retrieved 2006-07-09.
11. "Landing on sandbar a break for migrants". MiamiHerald.com. 2006. Retrieved 2006-07-09. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
12. "The requested article was not found". MiamiHerald.com. Retrieved 2006-07-09.
13. "The requested article was not found". MiamiHerald.com. Retrieved 2006-07-09.
14. "The requested article was not found". MiamiHerald.com. Retrieved 2006-07-09.
15. "Human Rights Overview: Cub". hrw.org. Retrieved 2006-07-09.
16. "Government officials visit Baha'i center". Baha'iWorldNewsService.com. 2005. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
17. "Social Policy" (PDF). oxfamamerica.org. Retrieved 2006-07-09.
18. "Social Policy" (PDF). oxfamamerica.org. Retrieved 2006-07-09.
19. "CUBAN TOURISM IN 2007: ECONOMIC IMPACT" (PDF). lanic.utexas.edu. Retrieved 2006-07-09. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
20. "Background Note: Cuba". U.S. Department of State. 2005. Retrieved 2006-07-09. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
21. http://www.uiowa.edu/ifdebook/conferences/cuba/TLCP/Volume%201/Facio.pdf Tourism in Cuba during the Special Period
22. "Background Note: Cuba". U.S. Department of State. 2005. Retrieved 2006-07-09. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
23. Schweimler, Daniel (2001). "Cuba's anti-corruption ministry". BBC News. Retrieved 2006-07-09. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
24. "Rank Order Exports". CIA:The World Fact Book. 2006. Retrieved 2006-07-09. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
25. "Cuba". CIA World Fact Book. 2006. Retrieved 2006-07-09. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
26. "Cuba Exports - commodities". IndexMundi.vom. 2005. Retrieved 2006-07-09. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
27. Calzon, Frank (2005). "Cuba makes poor trade partner for Louisiana". ShreveportTimes.com. Retrieved 2006-07-09. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
28. "Rank Order - GDP (purchasing power parity)". CIA Fact Book. 2006. Retrieved 2006-07-09. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
29. "Cuba". heritage.org. 2004. Retrieved 2006-07-09.
30. "Cuba's Sugar Industry and the Impact of Hurricane Michele" (PDF). International Agricultural Trade Report. 2001. Retrieved 2006-07-09. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
31. "Global Nickel Mine Production 2002". 2002. Retrieved 2006-07-09.
32. Frank, Marc (2002). "Cuba's 2002 nickel exports top 70,000 tonnes". Center for International Policy. Retrieved 2006-07-09. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
33. Smith-Spark, Laura (2006). "Cuba oil prospects cloud US horizon". BBC. Retrieved 2006-12-09.
34. Cuban army called key in any post-Castro scenario Anthony Boadle Reuters 2006

External links

Official

• Template:En icon Cuban Constitution
• Cuban Ministry of Justice
• 2002 Census National Statistics Office http://www.cubagob.cu/otras_info/censo/index.htm
• Template:En icon Granma — International edition of Communist Party of Cuba Newspaper
• Template:En icon Government of Cuba
• List of members of the Council of State
• Template:En icon Cuban News Agency — Cuban News

General

• Template:Wikitravel
• Cuba´s Political and election System
• Center for Cuban Business Studies — The Cuba Center at Ohio Northern University
• CUBANET — An anti-Castro site including news articles from Cuba's independent journalists and a digest of Cuban news by international newspapers
• Cuba Solidarity — British campaign "for the defence of Cuba and its peoples' right to self-determination and national sovereignty." - favors current government
• Encuentro en la Red — Independent news and cultural site on Cuban matters
• Congressional Research Service (CRS) Reports regarding Cuba
• Cuba Cultura — A database (in Spanish) of Cuban History, Culture and Architecture from the Pre-Columbian to the Special Period.
• Cuba Inside Out — History, currents, commentary, resources

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